London: In an interaction with British parliamentarians in London, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Monday, March 6, that India’s democratic institutions are under attack by the RSS and the BJP, accusing the government of stifling the opposition’s voice.
Gandhi, who is touring the UK, warned that if Indian democracy “crumbles”, it will be a “huge setback for the world”. He said, “India is a democracy three times the size of the US and three times the size of Europe.”
Gandhi was addressing an audience of around 90 people, including British MPs, Lords, Dames, academics, and the media, in the Grand Committee Room of the UK parliament.
In his address, he alleged that the opposition’s voice is being stifled in India, and currently, it is ‘quite rough’ to be an MP in the country. He said that though the future of India is “solid”, however, this “turbulent period” needs to be fought on an urgent basis. He further stressed that India has “tremendous economic potential”.
Gandhi said that Indian values enshrined like ‘World is Family’ (Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam) are under threat from the current dispensation but he is still confident that they will once again win, as it is in the “DNA” of India.
The address at one of the chambers of the British parliament was organised by Virendra Sharma, a member of the UK parliament from Ealing, Southall. He is also the longest-serving Indian-origin MP in the UK.
Back in India, the Congress leader’s comments were met with scorn by the BJP, which accused him of trying to seek American and European intervention in India’s internal affairs. BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad accused Gandhi of “misusing the forum of British parliament” to spread “shameful lies and unfounded claims” about “India’s democracy, India’s polity, India’s parliament, India’s judicial system and her strategic security from a foreign land.”
On March 5, Gandhi told members of the Indian diaspora that “cowardice” is at the heart of the BJP’s ideology and that under the party, the “institutional framework” of democracy was getting constrained.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi while addressing British politicians, academics and journalists at the Grand Committee Room, UK parliament on March 6, 2023. Photo: Twitter/@INCIndia
‘My idea of India has changed’
“When I first joined politics, I had a particular view of India and politics. During those days, I believed that any Indian could say what he wanted to say. However, over the last nine years, my idea of India has changed and conversations that used to be completely open and free are now suppressed and stunted,” said Gandhi, elaborating on why he undertook the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
“The RSS and the BJP are infiltrating institutions. They are coercing these institutions, and therefore, conversations are not possible,” he argued.
“I like to see India as a negotiation between many different ideas, states, and any negotiation that requires a structure. And the structure of negotiation is our institutions – a free press, parliament house, and the judiciary. And these democratic institutions are under attack by the RSS and the BJP.”
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Gandhi made a joke about the “stifling” of the opposition’s voice in India by speaking through a broken microphone in the room.
Referring to the fact that microphones are often silenced in the Indian parliament, the Congress MP said, “Our mics are not out of order, they are functioning, but you still cannot switch them on. That’s happened to me a number of times while I am speaking.”
“The reason is our government simply does not allow any idea of the opposition to be discussed. The same happens in the Parliament House. We want to raise important things like demonetisation, GST, and the fact that the Chinese troops are sitting inside our territory. When we try to raise these questions, we are not allowed to. It is shameful but true,” Gandhi said.
“Our country is an open country, where we respect each other’s opinions, and that atmosphere has been destroyed.”
Also Read | ‘At the Heart of BJP’s Ideology Is Cowardice’: Rahul Gandhi Tells Indian Diaspora in London
‘Bharat Jodo Yatra was a learning experience’
While speaking with Mukulika Banerjee, professor at the London School of Economics, and Sanam Arora, chairperson of the National Indian Students and Alumni Union UK, Gandhi said, “The Congress party is an idea. We have ruled the country for many more years than the BJP has.”
Most of the narratives in the media are controlled by the BJP, alleged the Congress leader. And therefore, Gandhi said, he listens to the ‘people on the ground.’
Answering a question on how the Congress as a party is and has been a part of the social movement, he reminded the Committee Room that it was the Gandhian principle of non-violence which helped India achieve independence from the British. “And today, these are the values that are under attack,” he said.
“The Bharat Jodo Yatra was a learning experience to understand my country in a more deep and nuanced way. It’s a model of work – a conversation that happens within the framework of equality,” he said.
He added that the central idea of the 4,000-kilometre walk across the country was to suggest that “India needs to start talking again. That India needs to start talking again with its languages and with the people”.
“It [the yatra] placed on the table a different narrative of India,” he told the meeting.
During his nearly 45-minute address, Gandhi also referred to the decline in freedom in the academic space and raised his concerns about the freedom of expression in India. Speaking at Cambridge University on March 5, he also raised the issue of freedom of speech. He said, “It is quite strange that an Indian politician can give a talk at Cambridge or Harvard university but cannot give a talk at a university in India.”
Kalrav Joshi is an independent multimedia journalist based out of London. He writes on politics, culture, technology, and climate.
