'No bigger lie than this': VP Jagdeep Dhankhar on Rahul Gandhi's mic charge

"Yes, there was a black period which is known as Emergency. But now this is not possible now," Vice President and Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said without naming Rahul Gandhi but making a reference to his statement that mics are switched off in Parliament.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday took a veiled jibe at Rahul Gandhi and, without taking his name, said someone goes out of the country and claims that microphones are turned off in Parliament -- to set a narrative. There is not a bigger lie than this, Dhankhar said. "I have this constitutional duty to tell the world that this never happens in Indian Parliament. Yes, there was a black period which is known as Emergency. But now this is not possible now," Jagdeep Dhankhar said inaugurating an Ayurveda conference at a university in Meerut. Addressing the event, he urged for a 'medicine' that will restore the dignity of Parliament.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar said temples of democracies can't be allowed to be outraged.

"We can't allow temples of democracy to be outraged because we are not only the largest democracy but also the mother of democracy," the Vice President said.

This is not the first time that Dhankhar raised an objection to Rahul Gandhi's microphone-off statement. Though the Congress leader repeated this claim several times during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, his statement in the UK has drawn flak. "If I observe silence on this orchestration by an MP outside the country, which is motivated, I will be on the wrong side of the Constitution. How can I sanctify a statement that mics in Indian Parliament are put off?" Dhankhar said earlier. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh criticised the statement and said Dhankhar being the Rajya Sabha chairman cannot be a "cheerleader for any ruling dispensation".