Congress trying to restrict free speech, says Arun Jaitley

Senior leader of the BJP Arun Jaitley Monday accused the Congress of posing threats to the right of freedom of expression, and said: "A potential loser in the elections cannot seek to alter the rules of free speech."

The Bharatiya Janata Party leader, in an article on the party's website, was responding to a statement from the Congress seeking a restriction on opinion polls, in the run-up to the elections.

Jaitley said the government's "unconstitutional censorship order" last month concerning "artificial competition" to the prime minister's national day speeches was prompted by "Modi-phobia".

He added that opinion polls too were part of freedom of speech.

"Restricting them is constitutionally neither permissible nor desirable. The Election Commission will be best advised to keep away from the controversy concerning the ban on opinion polls and allow the market place of democracy to accept or reject the findings of the opinion poll," he said.

"When the trend of opinion polls are adverse to political parties, they rubbish them," Jaitley said.

"They start demanding a ban. The loser demands a ban and the potential winner wants them to continue. A ban on such polls cannot be considered based on who is demanding the ban," he said.

According to the CNN-IBN-The Week pre-poll survey telecast last week, the BJP was set to retain Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and defeat the Congress in Rajasthan.

It said the BJP was slightly ahead of Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party in the three-way split in Delhi.

Five states, including Mizoram, are to go to the polls November-December.

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Congress trying to restrict free speech, says Arun Jaitley