Mumbai, Oct 9 — Maharashtra Cultural Affairs, Electronics, Information Technology and Artificial Intelligence Development Minister Ashish Shelar on Friday said that favouring an American industrialist amounted to “dishonesty” on the part of Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.
He also remarked that the ongoing protests by the Opposition against the SIR process amounted to the “grammar of anarchy”.
Speaking to reporters about LoP in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi criticising the Indian government while supporting remarks made by Elon Musk, Shelar said the matter concerned the Central Government.
However, he added that Rahul Gandhi's defence of the businessman in question amounted to dishonesty.
He said that the United States was imposing restrictions affecting Indian technology companies and that such developments were not conducive to the careers and employment prospects of young Indians working there.
According to Shelar, supporting an American company at such a time amounted to dishonesty.
The Minister further said that officials had already clarified that work on the security verification framework concerning Elon Musk and Starlink was underway.
He said the Central Government or the concerned authorities would take an appropriate decision on the matter.
However, he alleged that Rahul Gandhi had chosen to side with reactions coming from the United States without waiting for that decision, which, according to him, amounted to dishonesty towards India's administrative system.
On the Opposition's ongoing protests in Delhi, Shelar said such demonstrations questioned the country's institutions and amounted to the "grammar of anarchy".
He said there was an opportunity to raise such issues in the Lok Sabha and that the constitutional platform existed to discuss all concerns.
According to him, instead of debating the matter in the House, Opposition leaders were choosing to protest outside.
Criticising Abhijit Dipke's reported statement that an Emergency had been imposed in the country, Shelar said Dipke's understanding of civics appeared weak.
"If Abhijit Dipke believes that an Emergency has been imposed in the country, he clearly does not understand what an Emergency means," Shelar said.
He argued that Dipke should ask the Congress about the Emergency period and whether people were free to speak and write during that time.
He also criticised the CJP protest, describing it as an attempt to outmanoeuvre the Congress politically.