The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of tarnishing India’s image on a global platform and stooping low to destroy the country’s fabric after he alleged that the Indian democracy is under attack in his Cambridge University speech.
“Rahul Gandhi is saying Indian Judiciary is failed, Indian democracy is destroyed, Indian media is sold and that India is no place to invest… This is how Rahul Gandhi is presenting India on a world platform. Truth is, all stakeholders around the world want to invest in India… countries that don’t want to invest in China want to invest in India…This has happened for the first time in 75 years,” BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra said in New Delhi.
At Cambridge, Gandhi listed five key aspects of the alleged attack on Indian democracy — capture and control of media and judiciary; surveillance and intimidation; coercion by federal law enforcement agencies; attacks on minorities, Dalits and tribals; and shutting down of dissent.
Patra said it was the UPA government led by the Congress that had bugged and tapped the phones of their ministers. Patra said former president Pranab Mukherjee had himself reported to the then Prime Minister that his room was bugged when he was a Union minister. “An RTI reply revealed that over 9,000 phones were tapped and nearly 500 e-mails were read (during the UPA government),” Patra added.
On Gandhi’s remarks on the attack on minorities, Patra said, “Rahul Gandhi has stooped down this low to destroy the fabric of India.” The BJP spokesperson questioned whether Gandhi works for any agency that brings down India’s image. “Is he working on their payroll?” he asked.
“You are not a bright kid doesn’t mean that India is not in a bright spot. India is bright and India is doing good,” Patra said.