Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Saturday alleged that the Central Bureau of Investigation was being misused by the Union government to "strangulate" the opposition.

Kumar was here to take part in a function organized by the Congress to mark the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister late Rajiv Gandhi.

To a question, he said probe agencies such as the CBI are meant to protect the country, but the present BJP-led Union government was misusing it to protect its power. The CBI was being used to strangulate the opposition, the Congress leader said.

On Friday, the central agency raided Delhi deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's residence and 30 other locations over allegations of corruption in the implementation of the Delhi excise policy Paying tributes to Rajiv Gandhi for strengthening the Panchayati Raj through decentralization of power, Kumar said today centralization of power is taking place.?
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Efforts are being made to erase the history of the contribution of many people to nation-building, hence it becomes more important to remember our history and how we got Independence, he said.

Rajiv Gandhi, as prime minister, dared to criticize his own government when he said that a rupee sent from Delhi dwindles down to just a few paise when it reaches the intended beneficiary, Kumar said.

Union minister Nitin Gadkari did not criticize his government but only said he wanted to leave politics and now he was being made to leave politics, the Congress leader quipped, in an apparent reference to Gadkari being dropped from his party's Parliamentary board.

"Today you cannot question your own prime minister and your own elected government. The country's political culture was never like this before. During the rule of Congress, Atal Bihari Vajpayee used to be the leader of opposition and still he was sent to foreign countries as a representative of India," Kumar said.

He also took a swipe at Union home minister Amit Shah, saying he was no ?Chanakya. "The real Chanakyas were born in Bihar," he said, adding that "we took revenge for what happened in Maharashtra in Bihar."?

(With PTI Inputs)