"Freedom of expression can't be removed": Congress's Rashid Alvi hits back at Kiren Rijiju

Speaking to ANI on Sunday, Rashid Alvi said, "...Freedom of expression is a fundamental constitutional right, and it cannot be removed from it... This is not the Bihar voter list, which the Election Commission will remove. And without freedom of expression, Kiren Rijiju would have difficulty making any statement. Whatever you say is because of freedom of expression..."

A day earlier, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju strongly countered the Congress party's allegations regarding curbs on free speech and suppressing the voice of political parties, accusing the opposition party of misusing the idea of freedom of expression for politics.

In an interview with ANI, Rijiju said that those who claim their voices are being suppressed are, in reality, furthering their divisive agenda for the country.

"In our country, those who talk about freedom of speech are the people who want to separate Jammu and Kashmir and the North East from the nation. Is this what you call freedom of speech? They should have talked about safeguarding the rights given in the Constitution, that should have been the fundamental rights, not talking about breaking the country, supporting Maoists, or defending Article 370 in Kashmir."

The Union Minister further alleged that Congress leaders often use their political platforms to launch personal attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi while simultaneously claiming that there is no space for dissent. The Parliamentary minister criticised the repeated attacks on the PM, which are being presented as legitimate dissent, stating that they do not amount to genuine free speech.

"From morning to evening, they keep on abusing PM Modi and say there is no freedom to speak. They want to misuse this freedom of expression to such an extent that they want to split the nation," Rijiju said. (ANI)