Democracy is dead in India, says Rahul
CHENNAI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched a tirade against the central government on Saturday, saying that the democracy is dead in India. Gandhi further attacked the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s ideological parent Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), saying that it has destroyed the institutional balance in the country by “systematically attacking elected institutions and free press” for the last six years.
“I am sad to tell you that democracy is dead in India. It is dead because one organisationthe RSS has combined with huge finances to penetrate and disturb and destroy our institutional balance,” said Gandhi, kicking off his three-day campaign in Tamil Nadu, which is slated to go to polls on April 6. “There are many different manifestations of this- misuse of sedition law, killing and threatening of people, these are all symptoms.”
He also spoke of judges receiving ‘plum posts’ after their retirements. “What happens when we come to power? There’s full penetration of all institutions. We’ll have to deal with 15 years of judges who have been placed in the judiciary because they support one political party. It’s going to be a huge challenge...”
The Wayanad Lok Sabha MP from Kerala also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the India-china border standoff, charging him with being ‘scared’ of the eastern neighbour. “Modi’s first reaction to the Chinese incursions was that nobody has come into India. That indi
cated to the Chinese that the Prime Minister of India is scared of them.. they understood it. And since then the Chinese have negotiated on that principle,” he was quoted as saying by PTI.
Interacting with advocates in Thoothukudi, Gandhi said the country required a judiciary that is not penetrated by the BJP and called for strengthening the antidefection law. “We should absolutely have laws that don’t allow MLAS to move but first we need a functioning Parliament, we need a judiciary that is not penetrated by the RSS and BJP, a press that raises this issue.”
Hitting back, RSS pracharak and veteran BJP leader in Tamil Nadu, L Ganesan, said: “RSS means discipline, nationalism and all other good qualities. If somebody says that RSS is influencing the judiciary or any field, people should feel happy that something good will happen. It is a compliment given by Rahul Gandhi to the judiciary. Long ago, when guruji Golwalkar was there, a similar question was asked if RSS is dominating the Jan Sangh and he replied ‘not only Jan Sangh, we want to influence all political parties and all walks of life for the country...”