Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi said the BJP is proposing “elimination of the Constitution” that grants equal rights to all and vowed to create a system of Opposition’s resistance that will succeed in removing the party from power.
Speaking at the Hertie School in Berlin during a discussion titled ‘Politics is the art of listening’, Gandhi said: “There is a wholesale capture of our institutional framework… Our investigative agencies are weaponised. Look at the cases against BJP people and those who are against them… There is an atmosphere in India where institutions are not performing the role they should be performing… The BJP sees the institutional framework of India as though it belongs to them. They use it as a tool for building political power.” The video of the interaction was uploaded by the Congress on Monday evening.
Gandhi said there was a disparity in the money that the BJP and the Opposition have. “There is an attack on the democratic system. As the Opposition, we have to find ways to counter this… We will create a system of Opposition resistance which will succeed.”
Asked about the Congress not being able to win state elections, Gandhi reiterated his allegation of “elections being stolen”.
“We won in Telangana and Himachal Pradesh… I have done press conferences where we have clearly shown that we won Haryana elections… We don’t feel the Maharashtra elections were fair. There is a full-scale assault taking place on the institutional framework of our country. We asked direct questions to the Election Commission. But we are not getting a response. We fundamentally believe there is a problem with the electoral machinery in India.”
On a question regarding pollution in Indian cities, Gandhi said “there is no contradiction between production and pollution”. “It depends on the type of fuel you use and the type of energy and how you fuel that production… You can choose between very polluting and those that are not… A lot of these problems can be solved with correct government intervention. Delhi is polluted because of industries outside Delhi. You start to regulate them, you transform the way they work, you will reduce pollution in Delhi,” said Gandhi.