Rahul Gandhi was in Vietnam during the time allotted to him to speak in Parliament: Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday hit out at Congress MP Rahul Gandhi for criticising the functioning of Parliament, saying the Leader of Opposition was in Vietnam during the time allotted to him to speak in the Lok Sabha. Shah described the four per cent reservation in contracts announced by the Congress government in Karnataka as a “lollipop” for Muslims. At the ‘Times Now Summit 2025′, Shah said any reservation on the basis of religion is a violation of the Constitution and the courts will strike it down. He said, “We strongly oppose any kind of reservation on the basis of religion.” On Gandhi’s criticism of the functioning of Parliament, the Home Minister said the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha may not know that there are rules for speaking in the House, which cannot be followed arbitrarily. He said, “He (Gandhi) was given 42 per cent time in the discussion on the budget. Now it is up to them to decide who will speak. Shah said, “But when serious discussions were going on in Parliament, he was in Vietnam and when he returned, he started insisting on speaking as per his wish.” He said that Parliament runs according to rules and procedures, not like the Congress party, which is run by a family and “where you can speak whenever you want”. When asked about the Congress’ allegation that there is an emergency-like situation in the country, Shah said that the opposition party keeps criticizing the government. He said, “If there was an emergency, they (Congress leaders) would have been in jail.” On the Congress’ demand for caste-based census, the Home Minister said that the opposition party itself had opposed such an exercise in the past.