Hyderabad: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tore into the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, declaring that India had “ceased to be a democracy” and accusing the ruling establishment of allowing “fascists” to capture its institutions, PTI reported.
At the Bharat Summit in Hyderabad, Gandhi vowed that the Opposition would “defeat Mr Modi and get rid of Mr Modi,” turning the Telangana government’s global gathering into a hard-hitting political battleground.
Gandhi questioned the legitimacy of elections if the Election Commission had declared 140 million voters illegal, apparently referring to the sharp fall in voter numbers after the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in several states following the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
“The 140 million people who voted in the 2024 Lok Sabha election were declared as either non-existent voters or non-voters a few months ago,” he said.
He traced India’s political rupture to 2014, when the Congress-led UPA lost power and Modi became Prime Minister for the first time. Gandhi alleged that the election had been transformed by massive money power and a new campaign model.
“In 2014, a completely new election was witnessed, with millions of dollars injected into the political system and a completely new type of campaign,” he said. “The electoral system that was used to close fights was suddenly upended, and we were in shock for a decade.”
‘Democracy Was Destroyed’
Gandhi said the Congress had spent a decade piecing together what he alleged was a systematic assault on Indian democracy. “What we discovered, and we have proven without any doubt, is that democracy was destroyed in India in 2014,” he said.
He cited alleged irregularities in Maharashtra, claiming that the Congress-led alliance had won one election only to be crushed three months later despite receiving the same number of votes.
“Seven million new voters were ‘magically’ added in three months and every single person of them voted for BJP leading to its victory,” he claimed. He alleged that similar patterns had unfolded in other states.
Gandhi said India’s democratic health was not merely a domestic issue. “Being the largest democracy in the world with more than 1.5 billion people, India is a global asset,” he said. “It is important for the democratic movement on the planet that India remains a democracy and what we have found and proven is that India is actually no longer a democracy.”
Modi, Adani And Money Power
Gandhi then trained his fire on alleged ties between political power and corporate wealth. He claimed that a businessman who had been around the 600th richest person in the world before the BJP came to office had recently risen to second place globally.
“The line between business and politics, between Mr Adani and Mr Modi, has evaporated,” he said. “You can see the outcome in the amount of assets that Mr Adani captures: airports, ports, bridges, cement, defence, infrastructure. You name it. He is there.”
He alleged that the BJP’s assets had grown elevenfold in a decade, turning the party into a “financial titan” that no rival could challenge. “Essentially, they become a financial titan, and nobody can compete,” Gandhi said, adding that similar patterns were visible in other countries.
The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha said the Opposition had once believed that institutions such as the media could be used to challenge the BJP and Modi. Instead, he alleged, those institutions had been captured and Opposition leaders were being pursued through legal cases.
“The opposition was clueless on its course of action as ‘institutions were taken away’ and the opposition leaders faced cases,” he alleged.
‘Truth, Non-Violence And Love’
Gandhi said the Opposition had concluded that a direct bond with citizens was more powerful than institutional control. “However, the opposition discovered that a direct link with people of the country is more powerful, no matter how many institutions the ‘fascists’ control,” he said.
He presented the Congress’s Bharat Jodo Yatra as the beginning of that counter-offensive and identified “truth, non-violence and love” as the party’s most powerful weapons against the BJP.
“You can see it on our streets, in Delhi. You can see it in the fear that the Prime Minister, Mr Amit Shah, has. This is already a done deal,” he said.
Summit Hit by Visa Controversy
Gandhi also apologized to foreign delegates unable to attend the summit, alleging that the Union government had blocked their participation. “It gives you a sense of what we are dealing with in our country,” he claimed.
Reports said the Union government had denied or revoked visas for more than 100 foreign invitees, including Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng, while clearing more than 300 others. Lyng, who drew attention during Modi’s visit to Oslo in May after questioning the Indian side on press freedom, was reportedly due to speak on a panel at the summit.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor had raised the issue a day earlier, saying 115 of the 315 speakers cleared by the external affairs ministry for the Bharat Summit were ultimately denied entry into India or had their visas cancelled. He condemned the move, saying, “It is a shame that a proud democracy has become so insecure that it must stifle any voice it fears will be critical.”
Responding at a media briefing, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “Visa matters are sovereign functions of any country or any government. So that is what I have to say.”
Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy, his cabinet colleagues, senior Congress leaders and delegates from several countries attended the event.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Manch (BJYM) activists protested near the Hyderabad International Convention Centre, the summit venue, against Gandhi’s visit. BJYM state president Ganesh Kunde said Rahul Gandhi had no right to tour Telangana without fulfilling the election promises made by the Congress.