Indian National Congress (INC) leader Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a press conference on Saturday, March 25th.
Gandhi, who has recently been disqualified as a member of the Parliament (MP), looked combative since the beginning of the press conference and started making allegations against Modi and the BJP one after another.
Alleging Modi’s close relationship with Indian business tycoon Gautam Adani, Gandhi said that he wants to know who had invested Rs 200bn in Adani’s shell companies, which according to him are involved in the Indian defence sector.
Gandhi further alleged that when he asked the same question in Parliament, his speech was expunged. He then hurled accusations at Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, saying that despite writing letters to the Speaker and meeting him personally regarding the reason for his speech in the Parliament being expunged, Birla avoided answering his questions.
In a diatribe, Gandhi then accused the BJP of doing manoeuvres to distract the attention of the masses away from Adani’s alleged corruption and the Modi-Adani close ties. Speaking about such manoeuvres of the BJP, Gandhi allegedly gave some instances. He alleged that the BJP deliberately misquoted his speech in the UK to create a sensation over his purported demand for foreign intervention in India. Not only that, but Gandhi also claimed that his disqualification from the MP post was also a means of the BJP to distract attention.
Then, during the question-and-answer session with the journalists, Gandhi complained that the media are not standing by the opposition against the BJP’s alleged wrongdoings, so the opposition should go to the common people seeking justice.
He also alleged that BJP leaders are scared of Modi, so they follow Modi’s orders to the letter. In this context, he alleged that the BJP has now started equating criticism of Modi’s alleged ally Adani to an insult to India.
Later, in response to questions from reporters, Gandhi replied that he would not be intimidated by a jail sentence or his disqualification from the Parliament, and mentioning the name of India’s Hindutva icon, VD Savarkar, he claimed that he is not Savarkar and he wouldn’t buckle under the BJP’s pressure. He also claimed that Modi is rather scared of his speech, thereby acting against him.
Furthermore, Gandhi accused the BJP of subverting the democratic and federal structure of India. Then he thanked the opposition parties for showing solidarity with him over his disqualification from the MP post and urged them to work in tandem to save India’s democracy from the alleged threat of the BJP.
