Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, on Saturday, continued his tirade against the BJP and the Centre, alleging that democracy was destroyed in India in 2014 and reiterated that the electoral system of the country and other institutions have been compromised.
Addressing an event in Hyderabad, Gandhi questioned the legitimacy of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, claiming that 140 million people who voted in the election were declared either non-existent voters or non-voters a few months ago.
"If the election commission has declared 140 million voters illegal non-voters, then how is that election possibly legitimate?" he asked.
Citing Maharashtra as an example, the Congress leader alleged that the electoral system had been manipulated to benefit the BJP.
He claimed that while his alliance performed well in the national election, it was decimated in the assembly election three months later, despite securing the same number of votes.
According to Gandhi, seven million new voters were added in three months, and every single one of them voted for the BJP, helping it win the election.
Gandhi alleged that India's electoral system underwent a fundamental change in 2014, when huge amounts of money were injected into politics.
Recalling the opposition's initial reaction, he said the electoral system, which had traditionally witnessed close contests and coalition politics, was suddenly upturned.
"There was this crisis in Indian politics for a decade. And then suddenly, we discovered what was happening," Gandhi said.
"We discovered it, and we have proven it without any doubt is that democracy was destroyed in India in 2014," he alleged.
The Congress leader also accused the BJP government of allowing the boundaries between politics and business to disappear, citing industrialist Gautam Adani's rise.
"The line between business and politics, between Adani and PM Modi, has evaporated. It does not exist anymore," Gandhi claimed.
He alleged that the consequences were visible in political financing, the assets acquired by Adani and the BJP's own financial growth.
"The result is that the BJP's assets grow elevenfold in a decade," he said.
Gandhi further alleged that institutions had been taken away from the opposition, leaving traditional political instruments such as the media, press conferences, interviews and public meetings ineffective.
"We had no support. Institutions were taken away," he said.
Describing his political opponents as fascists, Gandhi claimed that they had dominated the political landscape over the past decade.
However, he asserted that a direct connection with the people of India remained more powerful than institutional control or financial resources.
