Anyone criticising PM Modi being jailed: Rahul Gandhi

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi has alleged that anybody who criticises Prime Minister Narendra Modi or his government are being put in jail.

Reacting to reports that a case was registered against 50 eminent cultural and social leaders of the country who wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister expressing concerns over incidents like mob lynching, Gandhi said that every one now knew what was going on in the country. The country was going to an authoritarian state, he accused.

"Anybody who says anything against the Prime Minister or raises anything against the government are being jailed. The media is being crushed. It is pretty clear that we are moving into an authoritarian state. It is no more a secret," he told reporters at Wayanad in Kerala on Friday.

Gandhi, who represents Wayanad in the Lok Sabha, expressed solidarity with the ongoing indefinite hunger strike against traffic ban along NH 766 passing through Bandipur tiger reserve forest. He assured to explore all possible legal measures to ease traffic restriction along Bandipur. Traffic is being allowed through many forest routes in the country. Hence it was not possible to impose restrictions on Wayanad alone, he said adding that protection of wildlife also need to be ensured.