BJP likes to believe it will be in power 'eternally': Rahul Gandhi

The BJP likes to believe that it will be in power in India eternally but that is not the case and the Opposition can come together to undertake the repair work that needs to be done for Indian democracy Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has saidAddressing an inconversation session at the Chatham House think tank in London on Monday evening to round off his weeklong UK tour the MP from Keralas Wayanad once again claimed that Israeli software Pegasus was planted on his phone as he accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party BJP of trying to silence dissent in IndiaTo put it in perspective if you look at the time from independence to now the Congress party has been in power for the majority of the time Gandhi saidBefore the BJP was in power for 10 years we were in power for 10 years The BJP likes to believe that they have come to power in India and they are going to be in power eternally thats not the case the 52yearold former Congress chief saidThe BJPled National Democratic Alliance NDA government came to power in India in 2014Gandhi pointed to a set of changes taking place in India that had caught the Congress and the previous United Progressive Alliance UPA government led by the party off guard such as a shift from rural to urbanWe were focusing a lot on the rural space and we missed the ball at the beginning on the urban space that is a fact Those things are there But to say that the BJP is in power and the Congress gone that is actually a ridiculous idea he saidAlso Read Structures of Indias democracy under brutal attack Rahul GandhiDuring his Chatham House discussion Gandhi pointed out that besides the Congress the foreign media has also been highlighting that there is a serious problem with Indian democracyIt is also the way the BJP responds It is not interested in a conversation They have decided that they know what is going on nobody else in the country knows what is going on and that is it My phone had Pegasus on it that simply was not happening when we were in power So there are things that are very obvious and apparent to everyone he saidThe BJP has accused Gandhi of maligning India on foreign soil with Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur hitting out at his remarks in London and asking the Congress leader not to betray the nationDo not betray India Rahul Gandhi ji The objections to Indias foreign policy are evidence of your scant understanding of the issue No one will believe the lies you spread about India from foreign soil Thakur told reporters in New Delhi on MondayThe BJP has also made light of Gandhis allegation that he was being snooped upon saying that the Congress leader was hallucinating and makes such claims as he wants to create headlines wherever he goesIn his address at the Chatham House Gandhi also took aim at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh RSS as a fundamentalist fascist organisation that has changed the nature of the democratic contest in India by capturing the countrys institutionsAsked to explain the RSS to a foreign audience he noted You can call it a secret society It is built along the lines of the Muslim Brotherhood and the idea is to use the democratic contest to come to power and then subvert the democratic contest afterwardsIt has shocked me at how successful they have been at capturing the different institutions of our country The press judiciary Parliament Election Commission all the institutions are under pressure under threat and controlled in one way or anotherOn Indias foreign policy Gandhi drew a comparison between the RussiaUkraine conflict and IndiaChina relations and accused China of sitting on 2000 square kilometres of Indian territory adding that but our prime minister says they are not thereThe basic principle applied in Ukraine by the Russians is that they do not accept the relationship the Ukrainians have with Europe and America and have told Ukraine that if you do not change this relationship we will challenge your territorial integrity In my view that is what is happening on the borders of my country he claimed adding that China is similarly threatening India over its relations with the United StatesThe basic idea behind the troops in Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh is similar to what has happened in Ukraine and I mentioned this to the foreign minister S Jaishankar He completely disagreed with me and he thinks it is a ludicrous idea the Congress leader saidAmong the questions from a diaspora and academic audience at the event Gandhi was asked about dynastic politics as an impediment to Indian democracy which he dismissed as a factor and blamed structural issues way beyond dynastic politics as a threatOn IndiaPakistan relations the Opposition leader said he believes it is important to have good relations with all neighbouring countries but added that it depends on the actions of the PakistanisIf the Pakistanis are promoting terrorism in India that becomes very difficult And that does happen he saidThis story has been sourced from a third 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