Democracy destroyed in India in 2014, alleges Rahul Gandhi

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday alleged that democracy in India “was destroyed in 2014” and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of using money power to influence elections and marginalise the Opposition.

Speaking at the closing session of the Bharat Summit in Hyderabad, Gandhi said India was “no longer a democracy” and alleged that the country’s political and electoral system had changed after the BJP came to power in 2014.

The two-day summit was organised by the Congress-led Telangana government for discussions on democracy, social and economic justice, climate change, gender equality and foreign policy, among other subjects.

“In 2014, we witnessed a completely new election, something we've never seen before,” Gandhi said. “Millions and millions and millions of dollars injected into the political system.”

Gandhi said the Opposition had struggled to understand the changes in the electoral system and remained in shock for nearly a decade.

The Congress leader claimed that 14 crore people who had voted in the polls were subsequently declared either non-existent voters or non-voters.

“If the Election Commission has declared 140 million voters illegal non-voters, then how is that election possibly legitimate?” Gandhi asked.

The Congress MP also accused the BJP of benefiting from the growing overlap between political power and big business, specifically referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and industrialist Gautam Adani.

“The line between business and politics, between Adani and Modi, has evaporated,” Gandhi said. “It does not exist anymore.”

He said that Adani’s business interests had expanded across airports, ports, infrastructure, defence and cement, while the BJP’s assets had grown 11 times over a decade.

“Essentially they become a financial titan and nobody can compete with them,” Gandhi said.

The Congress leader further alleged that democratic institutions had been taken away from the Opposition, leaving it with limited access to traditional political platforms, including the media, press conferences and interviews.

Gandhi also apologised to foreign delegates who had been invited to the Bharat Summit but could not attend after allegedly being denied visas or having their clearances withdrawn by the Union government.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor had earlier claimed that 115 of the 315 speakers were refused entry into India or had their visas cancelled “apparently on the instructions of the Ministry of Home Affairs”.

This included Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng who had questioned the government on press freedom during Modi’s visit to Oslo in May.

Responding to the controversy, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Friday that visa decisions were “sovereign functions of any country or any government”.

Edited by Sara Varghese.