Hyderabad: The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, attacked the Centre for denying visas to 150 international delegates, including heads of state and elected representatives for the Bharat Summit in Telangana after their arrival was confirmed nearly two months earlier.
“I apologise to the delegates and leaders who were scheduled to come but were not allowed by the Government of India. It is not our fault, but it gives you a sense of what we are dealing with in our country,” Rahul Gandhi said at the valedictory session of the two-day Bharat Summit curated by the Samruddha Bharat Foundation and hosted by the Telangana government.
Making a veiled reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said fascists had been running India for the last decade, leaving the country and the opposition in distress. This led him to introspect, even as he questioned his own party, ideology, and their actions.
Reflecting on the 2014 election, Rahul Gandhi said the Congress party underwent a unique and massive learning experience. He admitted to witnessing an unprecedented race, characterised by millions of dollars injected into the Indian political system and a new style of campaigning.
Gandhi also observed that an electoral system previously accustomed to close contests and coalitions had suddenly been upturned.
He vowed to prevent any further collapse of democratic institutions by fighting Narendra Modi and the Home Minister Amit Shah, whom he blamed for the alleged manipulation of the voter rolls as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, during which more than 13 crore voters’ names were deleted.
“I can tell you already with confidence that we’re going to defeat Mr Modi and we’re going to get rid of Mr Modi, and you can see it, you can see it on our streets, you can see it in Delhi, you can see it in the fear that the Prime Minister and Mr Amit Shah have, this is already a done deal—when we needed something to fight back with, we tried everything, but this is what worked,” the LoP said.
The Gandhi method
Addressing the concluding session, Rahul Gandhi called on Congress workers, progressive leaders and citizens to confront what he described as fascist forces through love, compassion, truth and non-violence, rather than hatred and anger. He said Mahatma Gandhi’s principles remained powerful tools of political resistance in contemporary politics.
Recalling the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Gandhi said his interactions with ordinary people had reaffirmed his faith in the relevance of Gandhian methods. He alleged that democratic institutions and electoral processes had weakened since 2014. He raised concerns over additions and deletions in electoral rolls and questioned the growing influence of money and corporate interests in politics. He also called for international solidarity based on mutual respect and peaceful democratic engagement.
Congress leaders from across the country attended the second Bharat Summit, which concluded in Hyderabad on Saturday after two days of discussions on democracy, social justice, economic equality, peace and a more inclusive global order. Political leaders, policymakers, academics, activists and delegates from around 70 countries deliberated on challenges including authoritarianism, polarisation, economic inequality, climate change and technological disruption.
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