The BJP claimed on Friday that the primary goal of the Congress’ protest against rising prices and unemployment is to “save” the Gandhi family from corruption allegations. They also urged Rahul Gandhi not to place the blame for his party’s recurrent vote losses under him on Indian democracy. Gandhi was retaliated against by BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad, who called Gandhi’s claims that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is causing the “death of democracy” in India “shameful and irresponsible.”

 

Gandhi said that no institution in the country is independent in a press conference before his party’s protests over concerns like price hikes and unemployment. He also claimed that his family is under attack because they stand up for democracy and intergroup peace. He claimed that those who voice the concerns of the populace and fight against the coming of dictatorship are “viciously persecuted” and imprisoned.

 

If anyone witnessed a dictatorship, it was during the Emergency, when critics and editors of the opposition were imprisoned, judges were replaced, and censorship was imposed. The former law minister recalled that Indira Gandhi had mentioned having a “dedicated judiciary” at the time. He referred to the Enforcement Directorate’s investigation into Rahul Gandhi and Congress President Sonia Gandhi in the case of the National Herald and said the former Congress president must respond to how Young Indian, a company in which the two Gandhi have a 76% stake, is alleged to have acquired the National Herald’s assets worth more than Rs 5,000 crore with an investment of only Rs 5 lakh. The BJP leader claimed that because the judiciary refused to toss out the allegations against them, he was now blaming institutions.

 

Anurag Thakur, a Union Minister, echoed the opinions and claimed that no amount of protesting by the Congress in public or in Parliament could change the “reality” of the allegations of corruption against its leaders. He asserted that Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra shouldn’t block the ED’s work because it operates independently and without being subject to political pressure. During their party’s demonstration, Rahul Gandhi and his sister, a general secretary of the Congress, were both taken into custody by the police.

 

The claims of corruption against opposition leaders, such as those from the Aam Aadmi Party and the Trinamool Congress, were also mentioned by Prasad and Thakur. They claimed that the ED had seized a sizable sum of money and other assets that they had purportedly acquired.

 

Prasad claimed that despite Rahul Gandhi’s numerous accusations against Modi during the 2019 elections, more people chose to support him. He claimed that democracy had been synonymous with financial irregularities when the opposition party was in control and that the government under Modi has been taking strong actions against corruption, which has alarmed the Congress and the system surrounding it.