NEW DELHI : Rahul Gandhi’s comment in London that India’s democracy “has come undone” has provoked a backlash with the ruling saffron BJP accusing him of “shaming the country” on foreign soil by “seeking foreign intervention”.
Rahul Gandhi had questioned at an event in London “why Europe and the US, the defenders of democracies, were oblivious of how a huge chunk of democracy in India had come undone”. The BJP said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and his predecessor Sonia Gandhi owed a clarification on the comments.
Speaking at an interaction at the independent policy institute Chatham House think tank in London on Monday evening, Gandhi expressed his concerns over the crumbling democracy in India. “Indian democracy is under pressure, is under attack. I am an Opposition leader in India and we are navigating that space. What is happening is that the institutional framework which is required for a democracy — Parliament, a free press, the judiciary — just the idea of mobilisation, just the idea of moving around … these are all getting constrained. So, we are facing an attack on the basic structure of Indian democracy,” Gandhi said during his speech.
The remarks of the Former Congress President evoked sharp reactions from the BJP. “Mr Kharge, BJP wants to know, if you feel you are an elected president of the Congress, do you support the irresponsible and shameful comments of Rahul Gandhi that America and Europe must intervene in India to restore democracy? If you don’t then disown them. Sonia ji, BJP would like to urge you to make your stand clear on utterly irresponsible comments.”
“BJP would like to emphatically state with great agony that Rahul Gandhi, in his speeches, has sought to shame India’s democracy, polity, parliament, political system and judicial system,” said BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad, accusing the Congress leader of telling lies. Rahul Gandhi had questioned at an event in London “why Europe and the US, the defenders of democracies, were oblivious of how a huge chunk of democracy in India had come undone”.
“Rahul Gandhi wants that Europe and US should interfere to save democracy? No matter whose government it is, we have been strongly against any interference in our internal affairs. No foreign country must intervene in India’s internal affairs,” Mr Prasad said. Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday slammed Gandhi for “insulting” India’s democracy from a foreign land. “Rahul Gandhi shamed Indians by seeking Europe and US’ intervention in India’s internal affairs, it is utterly irresponsible,” he added.
He further said that it is the “duty” of every Indian, everywhere in the world, to “speak up for India’s core values and protect our beloved democracy”. His reply came after a woman in the audience said, “I’m feeling wretched at the state of my country. My father was an RSS man, and proudly so, but wouldn’t recognize the country that is now. For those of us, who are out of our country, how can we engage and empower our democracy?”
(Bureau Report with Media Inputs).
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