BJP Likes to Think It Will Be in Power “Forever,” But That is Not the Case: Rahul Gandhi

GG News Bureau

London, 7th March. The BJP likes to believe that it will be in power in India “forever,” but that is not the case, and the Opposition can work together to do the “repair work” that Indian democracy requires, said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

Speaking at the Chatham House think tank in London on Monday evening to conclude his week-long UK tour, the MP from Kerala’s Wayanad claimed that Israeli software Pegasus was planted on his phone, accusing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of attempting to silence dissent in India.

“To put it in perspective, if you look at the time from independence to now, the Congress party has been in power for the majority of the time,” Gandhi said.

“Before the BJP was in power for 10 years, we were in power for 10 years. The BJP likes to believe that they have come to power in India and they are going to be in power eternally, that’s not the case,” the 52-year-old former Congress chief said.

In India, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government took power in 2014.

Rahul Gandhi cited a series of changes in India that had caught the Congress and the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government off guard, such as a shift from rural to urban areas.

“We were focusing a lot on the rural space and we missed the ball at the beginning on the urban space, that is a fact. Those things are there. But to say that the BJP is in power and the Congress gone, that is actually a ridiculous idea,” he said.

During his Chatham House discussion, Gandhi pointed out that besides the Congress, the foreign media has also been highlighting that there is a “serious problem with Indian democracy”.

“It is also the way the BJP responds. It is not interested in a conversation. They have decided that they know what is going on, nobody else in the country knows what is going on and that is it … My phone had Pegasus on it, that simply was not happening when we were in power. So there are things that are very obvious and apparent to everyone,” he said.

The BJP has accused Rahul Gandhi of disparaging India on foreign soil, with Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur criticizing his comments in London and asking the Congress leader not to betray the country.

“Do not betray India, Rahul Gandhi ji. The objections to India’s foreign policy are evidence of your scant understanding of the issue. No one will believe the lies you spread about India from foreign soil,” Anurag Thakur told reporters in New Delhi on Monday.

The BJP has also dismissed Rahul Gandhi’s claim that he is being spied on, claiming that the Congress leader is “hallucinating” and makes such claims in order to generate headlines wherever he goes.

In his Chatham House speech, Gandhi also attacked the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as a “fundamentalist, fascist organization” that has changed the nature of India’s democratic contest by seizing the country’s institutions.

When asked to explain RSS to a foreign audience, he stated: “You can call it a secret society. It is built along the lines of the Muslim Brotherhood and the idea is to use the democratic contest to come to power and then subvert the democratic contest afterwards.”

“It has shocked me at how successful they have been at capturing the different institutions of our country. The press, judiciary, Parliament, Election Commission — all the institutions are under pressure, under threat and controlled in one way or another.”

On India’s foreign policy, Rahul Gandhi drew a comparison between the Russia-Ukraine conflict and India-China relations and accused China of sitting on 2,000 square kilometres of Indian territory, adding that “but our prime minister says they are not there”.

“The basic principle applied in Ukraine by the Russians is that they do not accept the relationship the Ukrainians have with Europe and America, and have told Ukraine that if you do not change this relationship, we will challenge your territorial integrity. In my view, that is what is happening on the borders of my country,” he claimed, adding that China is similarly threatening India over its relations with the United States.

“The basic idea behind the troops in Arunachal (Pradesh) and Ladakh is similar to what has happened in Ukraine, and I mentioned this to the foreign minister (S Jaishankar). He completely disagreed with me and he thinks it is a ludicrous idea,” the Congress leader said.

Rahul Gandhi was asked about dynastic politics as an impediment to Indian democracy by a diaspora and academic audience at the event, which he dismissed as a factor and blamed on “structural” issues “way beyond dynastic politics” as a threat.

On India-Pakistan relations, the Opposition Leader stated that he believes it is important to have good relations with all neighboring countries, but that it is dependent on Pakistani actions.

“If the Pakistanis are promoting terrorism in India, that becomes very difficult. And that does happen,” he said.