Making an intervention during the Zero Hour on Wednesday Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi raised the issue of Net Neutrality. He said: “Every citizen should have the right to internet. Government wants to sell even the internet to big Corporates.”

He further said, “One million people have registered to fight for net neutrality. Youth have voted, they are asking on Twitter, Facebook and all other platforms. They are fighting for Net Neutrality and this government wants to carve out the net and hand it over to some Corporates.”

“I would request the government to please stop the TRAI consultation and to look into changing the law or writing a law for Net Neutrality.”

Rahul Gandhi said he wants to ask the BJP-government a simple question: If the government really wanted to protect Net Neutrality, then why did they start the TRAI consultation process in the first place? “I will tell you why. This consultation process is like a trial balloon to see the reaction of people. Their thinking is, if the reaction is not strong then go ahead with the policy. That’s why we are giving a strong reaction so that they step back,” Rahul Gandhi said.

Commenting on the recent Time magazine article by President Barack Obama in which he praised Prime Minister Shri Modi, the Congress Vice President said, “US President Barack Obama wrote an extensive article in Time magazine on our Prime Minister, where he praised Modi ji. World’s biggest industries are in America. In the last 60-years this is the first time a US President has praised an Indian Prime Minister. American Presidents used to praise Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev because he had helped US.”

Later, while addressing media outside the house, Rahul Gandhi explained his remarks again, “I quoted the example of Gorbachev (the last leader of the Soviet Union) because the then US President had showered praise on Gorbachev, for helping America’s cause. The then US President had also praised Yeltsin after he privatised all (State owned) companies of Russia.”

But a bigger issue, the Congress Vice President stressed, is that of Net Neutrality. “BJP’s Corporate-Sarkar is snatching the land of farmers, labourers & tribals. I am fighting for that, the Congress party is fighting for that. I had thought the interests of internet users, and the youth, who had supported Modi ji (during elections), would be protected. But what is happening? Like they snatched land, they are now taking away the internet too.”

“Net Neutrality means every single youth, every single person, should have unrestricted access to internet. But the BJP government wants to hand over the internet to Corporates. This will affect the youth of our country.”