There's no right time to speak the truth: Rahul on ordinance outburst

Did Rahul Gandhi choose a bad time for his outburst last month against the now-withdrawn ordinance on convicted lawmakers, especially with the prime minister away in the US and with important bilateral events lined up? The Congress vice president said Tuesday he does not think so as there is no right time to speak the truth.

In his two back-to-back events on Dalit empowerment in the capital, Rahul Gandhi referred to his Sep 27 strong public criticism of the ordinance to protect convicted lawmakers from disqualification.

Rahul Gandhi said he had gone to Gujarat a few days ago and spoke to some journalists on the ordinance, which was on Oct 2 axed at a cabinet sitting, as well as a bill on the same issue.

"One journalist told me that the opposition people are saying that you chose a wrong time (to speak out). And I asked is there a time to speak the truth?"

"Nowadays if you want to speak truth do you have to choose the time? Then it is not the truth it is a lie," said Rahul Gandhi, to loud cheers of "Rahul Gandhi zindabad" from the crowd at Talkatora stadium.

At the other event in Vigyan Bhavan, Gandhi said one should always raise one's voice against any wrong.

"If there is something wrong, one should never sit (quietly), howsoever big the power," he said.

On Oct 3 in Ahmedabad, Gandhi had said that perhaps the language he used to criticise the ordinance had been too strong.

Gandhi had said the ordinance, which was cleared by the cabinet headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was "complete nonsense" and should be "torn up and thrown away".

He had attracted widespread criticism with prime minister's former media advisor Sanjaya Baru terming the outburst as an act of insubordination that undermined the prime minister's position and authority. Baru had said the prime minister should quit, as the ordinance had been cleared by the cabinet.

Opposition parties, especially the BJP, had said the position of the prime minister had been undermined and that the prime minister should quit if he had any self-respect.