New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, at an interactive session at a university in Colombia Wednesday, said that India is witnessing a “wholesale attack on the democratic system”, which he described as a “risk” the country needs to overcome.
He alleged that corruption is “rampant” and present in “huge amounts” in India, as three to four business houses, “having a direct relationship with the prime minister”, have taken over the whole economy.
During the session, part of his ongoing visit to South America, Gandhi said that while Right-wing political parties currently in power across the globe will eventually be replaced by the Left, the world is likely to face a period of “violence” and “turbulence”, as the United States loses its edge as a global superpower.
During the hour-long discussion at the EIA University, he also underscored the need for India to focus on manufacturing, noting that China has effectively used its production strength to counter US President Donald Trump’s tariff measures.
“There’s a lot that India can offer to the world in terms of our tradition, our way of thinking, information technology, our engineering capability, our healthcare system. So I am very optimistic about India. But at the same time, there are also fault lines within the Indian system. There are risks that India has to overcome,” Gandhi said.
“The single biggest risk is the attack on democracy that is taking place. India has multiple religions, multiple traditions, multiple languages. And India actually is a conversation between all these people. And different traditions, different religions, different ideas, require space, and the best method for creating that space is the democratic system. And currently there is a wholesale attack on democratic state.”
India cannot emulate China, which “suppresses people and runs an authoritarian system”, he further said.
During his visit to Colombia, where he reached on 29 September, Gandhi met lawmakers of the country, including Lidio Garcia Turbay, a member of the Centre-Left Liberal Party. The Colombian Senate posted on X Tuesday that Garcia, who is serving as the President of the Senate, met Gandhi, “the grandson of Indira Gandhi to strengthen diplomatic and parliamentary relations between both countries”.
“During the meeting, the creation of the Parliamentary Friendship Group with India was announced, a mechanism that will allow for strengthening the political, diplomatic, and commercial ties between both countries,” the post read.
🏛️ | El presidente del Congreso, @Lidiosenado, se reunió con Raúl Gandhi, congresista de la India y nieto de Indira Gandhi, para fortalecer las relaciones diplomáticas y parlamentarias entre ambos países 🇨🇴🇮🇳. pic.twitter.com/x8H4oK1Qt9
— Senado de la República 🇨🇴 (@SenadoGovCo) September 30, 2025
The Congress party has been tight-lipped about Gandhi’s engagements in South America, apart from announcing that he is “scheduled to engage with political leaders, university students, and members of the business community across four countries”. His interaction in Colombia was also not shared by the Congress on any of its social media handles, and was uploaded by the university on its YouTube channel.
At the session, responding to a question on how to reverse the domination of the Right over the Left, Gandhi said that the world is in transition and entering an unpleasant time. But even this phase would not last forever, he said, stressing on the need to look for opportunities in the disruptions.
“We are in a transition where a superpower is being challenged. So it is going to be a turbulent time. There is, unfortunately, going to be violence. Now the question is, can we reduce it, how to reduce it, and in these transitions, where are the opportunities?” he remarked. “I do feel that we are entering an unstable time. Of course, I don’t necessarily think that the right wing parties are here to stay. I think this is also transitional. You will have changes from right wing to left wing…The central thing is that we are entering an unpleasant time, and if you are prepared for the disruptions that are coming, you are likely to find opportunities.”
Responding to another question on corruption, Gandhi said that decentralising could be one way to deal with it. At the same time, he said, it was difficult to get rid of.
“In India, we have huge amounts of corruption now, at a very, very centralised level. Three or four businesses basically taking over the whole economy, having a direct relationship with the prime minister. It’s rampant in India. But I feel that decentralising power, making things more transparent, bringing people into conversations, bringing people into processes, is the best way, but corruption does exist, so it’s a difficult thing to get rid of,” he said.
Further commenting on political and societal polarisation being witnessed across countries, Gandhi suggested that creation of jobs is essential in dealing with the issue: “Most of the people, for example, who are creating the polarisation in the United States with Mr Trump are people who have lost their manufacturing jobs. It is the collapse of US manufacturing that has left a huge number of people in the United States, and in India and in Europe, without jobs. And that’s a volatile cocktail. China has demonstrated to the world how you do production in a non democratic environment. Can we develop a model of manufacturing that is competitive with China, but in a democratic environment? And that’s where a lot of the conversation between countries, like the United States and India, Western Europe, is heading.”
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
Also Read: From pre-Emergency to post-Lalu era, the story of Congress’s irreversible decline in Bihar