Taking a dig at political opponents is common practice in politics and when it is about top leaders of any party, it is bound to get weight and reactions. Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday took a dig at BJP President Amit Shah when his microphone went off during a speech at the ‘Sanjhi Virasat Bachao Sammelan’ in Delhi.

It so happened that midway into his speech, when Rahul was vociferously criticising the government for curtailing people’s rights when suddenly, after a loud abrupt sound, the microphone went off. While both Rahul and his guard were taken aback for a moment by the loud disturbance only to realise that it was the microphone, Rahul Gandhi soon joked: “Amit Shah ji ne mic off kar diya,” (Amit Shah has switched off the microphone).

The Congress President was speaking at the convention, which was initiated by Sharad Yadav. The mic went off at that time he was accusing the ruling party of building a ‘cage’ and restricting the rights of the people. He said, “If it is your golden bird, then you have to make a cage for it. Can’t do without making a cage. So they (BJP) are busy in making the cage and we are trying to stop them…”

As the general elections and several assembly elections are approaching, political leaders are not leaving any chance to attack each other on any platform. Opposition parties, specially the Congress has accused the BJP of muzzling people’s rights. Senior party leader, Shashi Tharoor also tweeted a cartoon to target the BJP.

This ‘Sanjhi Virasat Bachao Sammelan’ (Save composite culture convention) was the sixth edition. The invitations for the convention were sent to 17 opposition parties. The convention is a platform for opposition political parties to attack the BJP on several issues. Invitations were sent to all major opposition parties, except for the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party. The convention is seen as a political measure to unite the opposition before the 2019 general elections.