Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of capturing India’s institutional framework and weaponising central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to consolidate political power.
Addressing students at the Hertie School in Berlin, Gandhi described the alleged move as an “attack” on India’s democratic system and vowed to create a “system of opposition resistance” to counter it.
“There is a wholesale capture of our institutional framework. Our intelligence agencies, ED and CBI, have been weaponised. ED and CBI have zero cases against the BJP, and most of the political cases are against the people who oppose them,” Gandhi said.
“If you are a businessman and try to support the Congress, you are threatened. The BJP uses the institutional framework of India as a tool to build political power. Look at the money the BJP has and the Opposition has,” he said.
In a video released by the Congress, Gandhi elaborated that the assault on India’s institutions is part of a broader attempt to undermine the Constitution.
“What the BJP is proposing essentially is the elimination of the Constitution. Elimination of the idea of equality between states, elimination of the idea of equality between languages and religions, elimination of the idea of the central core of the Constitution, which is that every individual will have the same value,” he said.
He stressed that the opposition’s fight is not merely against the BJP as a political party but against the “capture of the Indian institutional structure.”
“We will deal with it, and we will create a method, a system of opposition resistance that will succeed. But we’re not fighting the BJP. You have to understand that we’re fighting their capture of the Indian institutional structure,” Gandhi told students.
He also alleged that challenges were posed by the BJP’s ideology in a diverse and complex country like India.
“There are millions of people in India who have a completely different vision of the country than the government of India and the RSS. This has existed throughout history. Are you going to be ruled by the whims of one person, or are you going to be ruled by a conversation? India should be a conversation between its states,” he said.
On the INDIA bloc, Gandhi clarified that while parties contest state and local elections tactically against each other, they are united on resisting the RSS’s ideology.
“All parties of the alliance do not agree with the basic ideology of the RSS. We are very much united on that question. We have tactical contests, and we will continue to have them. But when it comes to the opposition requiring unity, that happens every day in Parliament,” he added.
Gandhi also slammed the economic policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, asserting that while the current government has adopted previous economic models, the direction of policy is “jammed” and will face significant challenges.
During his visit to Germany, Gandhi portrayed India’s democracy as a global asset, noting, “If you are going to have any conversation about democracy on the planet, you cannot ignore by far the largest and most complex democracy in the world. That is why I say Indian democracy is a global public good; it is not just an Indian asset.”
“So when I talk of the attack on the Indian democratic system, it is actually an attack not just on the Indian democratic system, it is an attack on the global democratic system,” Gandhi said.
Rahul Gandhi is on a five-day visit to Germany, during which he addressed students and discussed issues relating to institutional capture, electoral reforms, and the future of India’s democratic framework.
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