'It's real': Congress' Punia jumps to back Rahul Gandhi comparing India with Iraq & Libya

Launching an attack on the Centre, Congress MP PL Punia said that the vaccination program in the country is too slow and should be implemented in such a way that everyone gets vaccinated within a year. Pointing towards his fellow party member Rahul Gandhi's statement comparing India's democracy with Iraq and Libya under their infamous dictators, PL Punia said, 'Rahul Gandhi has just brought out reality in front of the whole country.' 'Everything seems to be compromised now with BJP being in power,' he added. 

Stating that 'earlier if the government used to do anything wrong, we had faith that either the Judiciary will take a decision or either the central agencies but now it seems impossible', Punia also took on Union Minister Prakash Javadekar for panning Rahul Gandhi's statement, saying 'he just wanted to condemn Rahul Gandhi's statement anyway, so he just did his job'.

Prakash Javadekar slams Rahul Gandhi

Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday lambasted Rahul Gandhi over his remark on Indian democracy. He stated that comparing India's democracy with that of Saddam Hussain and Muammar Gaddafi's erstwhile Iraq and Libya is an insult to the country and its voters.

"I feel giving a comment on Rahul Gandhi’s opinion is worthless. He always makes an outlandish statement. I do not know, which planet he lives in? Comparing the country's democracy to that of Gaddafi's is an insult to India and to the 80 crore people who vote. During the 2 years of Emergency back in 1975-77, we witnessed a time like that of Gaddafi and Saddam," Javadekar said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi attacked the Central government over reports claiming the decline of democracy in India. During a conversation with Professor Ashutosh Varshney of Brown University, he also said Iraq's dictator Saddam Hussein and Libya's Muammar Gaddafi used to win elections as well. 

"We don’t need stamps from them, but directionally what they are saying is correct and democracy is actually weakening in the country. In fact, they are way behind the curve. The situation in India is far worse than they, or sections within our country, imagine. You can not separate electoral democracy from an institutional framework. Democracy is ineffective without its supporting frameworks. An election is not something that people are just going and pressing the button to caste the vote, it is a narrative," Rahul said.