In a lighter vein, he used a faulty microphone in the room to make his point about what he described as a "stifling" of Opposition in India. "Our mikes are not out of order, they are functioning, but you still can't switch them on. That's happened to me a number of times while I am speaking," the 52-year-old Wayanad MP told the gathering, in response to a question about sharing his experience of being a politician in India with his counterparts in Britain.