New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi on Friday slammed the ruling BJP government, saying the country was witnessing an "onset of dictatorship and death of democracy" on a day the Congress staged nationwide protests over issues like price rise and unemployment. Rahul led the party MPs from Parliament to the Rashtrapati Bhavan while his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra led a Congress protest march to the PM house over price rise and unemployment issues.
The Congress protest has come in the wake of the ED questioning Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case, which the party claims is baseless. The probe led to the sealing of the Young Indian office, which owns the newspaper, in the Herald House building.
"Are you enjoying the onset of dictatorship in India? What we are witnessing is the death of democracy. What India built over centuries ago is being destroyed. It is a dictatorship of four people. Anybody against this onset of dictatorship is put in jail. There is no debate in Parliament. The sole agenda of the government is that people’s issues should not be debated," Rahul said at a press conference.
“The government’s focus is just on 2-3 big business people,” he said. The Congress leader also alleged that the voice of the opposition was not being heard as the BJP/RSS had captured all institutions in the country and wanted to attack the idea of an Opposition.
"They want to attack the idea of an Opposition. The opposition fights in a democracy with the help of institutions like the judiciary and the media. Today, the BJP/RSS has captured all institutions. That is the reason why the voice of the opposition is not heard," said Rahul.
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"We have been asking for a debate on price rise, unemployment, Agnipath scheme, Chinese incursions but they don’t allow a debate because they can’t face a debate," he said. The former Congress chief noted that a lack of democracy in the country would have consequences.
"There is no democracy in India. Democracy is a memory. There will be devastating consequences as the people will not be quiet," said Rahul, adding, "My job is to fight the idea of BJP/RSS." He defended the charge that Congress was protesting to defend the Gandhi family.
“It is not about the Gandhi family. There are many families like us. My family members have given their lives for the country. We feel the pain when someone is killed. The Gandhi family represented an idea of democracy and social harmony,” said Rahul.
Rahul noted that he was being targeted for speaking the truth to power. “The more I speak the truth, the more I will be attacked. I feel joy when I am attacked as it helps me understand the battlefield. I am not afraid, I will stand for democracy and raise people’s issues,” he said.
Targeting the Centre, Rahul said: “Those who have fear, threaten others. They fear the condition of the country today and the false promises they made to the people because they lie to people,” he said. The Congress had been demanding a debate on the price rise and unemployment issues in parliament for the past many days but when the debate took place finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said there was no problem like price rise and that the Indian Rupee had not collapsed as was being alleged.
“I don’t think the FM has any understanding of what is happening to the economy. If she had, then she would not have said there is no problem. The government has destroyed the job creation system and the GST has turned out to be a disaster. If you ask any state government, they will tell you. You ask anybody in villages and cities, price rise and unemployment are the highest in the country in decades,” Rahul said.
Noting “there is a difference between reality and perception”, Rahul said, “people were being fired in start-up India.” “They said no Covid deaths while there were dead bodies floating in the river Ganga. The UN pointed out that 5 million deaths took place in India due to Covid but they said that is a lie. They never speak the truth,” he said.
