Arun Jaitley lashes out at Congress, AAP over Parliament logjam, vulgarity
The finance minister said it is time that public opinion expresses its outrage against the lowering of the level of public discourse.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday took to Facebook again to hit out at the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party. In a post titled “Stray thoughts after the Winter session”, Jaitley criticised the “disproportionate and irrational” protests by the Opposition in Parliament and the “vulgar” language used by leaders against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the central government.
Noting that Parliamentary protests are not unheard of in India, the Union minister said that the last two sessions “have witnessed a clear stand of the Congress Party that Parliament shall not be allowed to function”. He added that “most of the Congress leaders” had in private “expressed helplessness over the decision of their leadership that Parliament must be disturbed continuously”. In an apparent dig at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Jaitley said that the current generation in control of the party “will find a place in history of having weakened what their ancestors established”.
The finance minister, who is currently involved in a court battle with AAP chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over defamation, said that “people in positions are expected to act with restraint” and “cannot be outlandish”. Jaitley added, “Vulgarity is not a right available to them… Functionaries of the Delhi Government and its supporters have lowered the level of political discourse. They rely heavily on general falsehood without ever stating the specifics.”