Arun Jaitley claimed that "right to free speech" equals "right to falsehood" for Rahul Gandhi.
Hours after the Supreme Court sought an explanation from Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of misquoting it on its Rafale order, Union Minister Arun Jaitley criticised the Congress chief saying Indian democracy does not permit "dynasts" to rewrite judicial orders.
"Dynasts are also subject to the Supreme Court. Indian democracy does not permit them to rewrite court orders," Mr Jaitley said in a series of tweets. "To manufacture a court order for political propaganda is a new low for Rahul Gandhi. The lower he sinks, the higher we rise."
The BJP terms the Congress as a dynastic party led by the Gandhi family.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court had said that Mr Gandhi misquoted it in an address delivered at an election rally in Amethi. "We make it clear that this court never made such an observation. We only decided on the admissibility of documents," a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi maintained, giving the Congress chief a week to explain before a contempt of court case filed by the BJP is taken up against him. The matter was further posted for hearing on April 23.
"Truth holds together. Falsehood falls apart. Rahul Gandhi needs to learn this preliminary lesson of public discourse," Mr Jaitley further tweeted, alleging that "the right to free speech includes the right to falsehood in Rahul Gandhi's politics".
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar also hit out at Mr Gandhi for allegedly misquoting the Supreme Court. "The Supreme Court has exposed Gandhi's lie. He lies daily and one of those lies has been exposed.... People are demanding that he tender an apology," he said, accusing the Congress president of using the court to undermine the Narendra Modi government as well as other central institutions.
Mr Gandhi's comments at the Amethi rally came after the Supreme Court ruled last week that classified documents accessed by the media can be used as evidence to consider requests to review a verdict clearing the Rafale fighter jet deal. "I want to thank the Supreme Court. The entire country is saying that chowkidar chor hai (the watchman has committed theft). It is a day of celebration that the Supreme Court has talked about justice," he had said.
(With inputs from PTI)
Disclaimer: NDTV has been sued for 10,000 crores by Anil Ambani's Reliance Group for its coverage of the Rafale deal.