‘Full-scale assault’ on India’s democratic institutions: Rahul

LONDON: There is a full-scale assault on the democratic institutions of India and there are concerns in the European Union (EU) quarters over this attempt to “stifle” the country’s democratic structures,

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Friday as he pledged that the Opposition will stop this “onslaught on our freedom”.

The Congress leader, who is on a European tour starting with Belgium, addressed a broad range of topics at a media briefing in Brussels, including the Russia-Ukraine conflict to say that the Opposition agrees with the government’s current position on the issue.

On India hosting the G20 Summit, Gandhi said it was a “good thing” and pointed to the lack of an invitation for Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge to the event as reflective of a “type of thinking” from the government that “did not value the leader of 60 per cent of India’s population”.

“There is an increase in discrimination and in violence in India and there is a full-scale assault on the democratic institutions of our country, that everybody knows,” said Gandhi.

Asked about the reaction of the European parliamentarians to some of these issues, he replied: “They were very concerned and they felt that there is an attempt to stifle the democratic structures of India, for sure. I mean, they were very, very clear with us,” the leader said.

“The democratic fight and the fight for democracy in India is ours. And it’s our responsibility, and we will take care of it. We will make sure that the sort of onslaught on our institutions and our freedom is stopped. The Opposition will make sure it happens,” he added.

He said he has had “fruitful” conversations with parliamentarians and members of the diaspora at the start of his European tour, which is part of a wider initiative to travel around the world with the Opposition’s vision and have an open exchange of ideas.

“We discussed with the parliamentarians across the board the relationship between India and Europe, the changing globe, transition into a new sort of energy paradigm, into a new mobility paradigm…

we were giving them a sense of the type of challenges India’s facing – economic challenges, other challenges. The general sort of attack on the democratic institutions,” he said.