Rahul Gandhi claims Indian democracy under 'brutal attack'; 'BJP wants India to be silent'

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has again stoked a massive controversy alleging that the structures of Indian democracy are under “brutal attack”. The Wayanad MP who was speaking in London was also seen backing British broadcaster BBC against the tax surveys conducted against its offices in Mumbai and Delhi. He alleged that the action against the BBC in India was an example of the "suppression of voice across the country”.

Speaking to reporters at the India Insights event organised by the Indian Journalists’ Association (IJA) in London, Rahul Gandhi said, "The reason the (Bharat Jodo) yatra became necessary is because the structures of our democracy are under brutal attack... The media, the institutional frameworks, judiciary, Parliament is all under attack and we were finding it very difficult to put the voice of the people through the normal channels," PTI reported.

Rahul Gandhi backs BBC

The Congress leader added, "The BBC has found out about it now, but it has been going on in India for the last nine years non-stop. Everybody knows that journalists are intimidated, they are attacked and threatened. The journalists who toe the line of the government are rewarded. So, it’s part of a pattern and I wouldn’t expect anything different."

"If the BBC stops writing against the government, everything will go back to normal. All the cases will disappear," Rahul Gandhi said. Notably, the I-T department in February conducted surveys at BBC offices in Mumbai and Delhi and found irregularities in the accounting books of the British broadcaster.

Gandhi expressed regret that democratic sections of the globe, including the US and Europe, had failed to realise that a "large chunk of democracy has come undone".

"The BJP wants India to be silent. They want it to be quiet… because they want to be able to take what is India’s and give it to their close friends. That’s the idea, to distract the population and then hand over India’s wealth to three, four, five people,” he alleged.

Notably, Rahul has been facing fire from BJP over his recent speech at Cambridge University, which the saffron party claims was given by the Congress leader to defame the country in a foreign land.

(With inputs from PTI)