India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has claimed that India is the “mother of democracy”, saying people in India take part openly in debate on many issues. He made the remark at a time when his government has turned the capital, Delhi, into a virtual fortress to keep protesters away, and amid allegations of a crackdown on demonstrators.
The BJP, for its part, has spoken out against the protests. The ruling party called the movement an attempt to create anarchy, and criticised Rahul Gandhi, leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, calling him a “bad omen”.
The Indian prime minister sought to present the debate around the protests in a new light to an international audience. He spoke at the Bloomberg Economic Forum in New Delhi on Tuesday. Before an audience of international figures from politics, business and policymaking, Modi used the platform to promote India’s democratic image, while the BJP was busy sending messages to its supporters in domestic politics.
“India is the mother of democracy,” Modi said. “This country has more than 100 languages, about 80,000 registered newspapers and magazines, and more than a thousand satellite television channels. Not only that, in this age of social media India has more than 500 million YouTube users and more than 500 million Instagram users.”
“In our country people debate various issues openly and citizens express a range of opinions,” he added. “Digital technology has played an important role in taking this process forward today.”
Later on Tuesday the BJP came out against the protests. The union ministers Piyush Goyal and Rajiv Ranjan Singh accused the Congress of spreading anarchy.
Mocking the Congress as “deluded”, Goyal claimed that Rahul Gandhi is the biggest “red flag”, or danger signal, for the people, and that this is why the Congress keeps losing elections.
Goyal also spoke at length about how election commissioners were treated when the Congress was in power, citing the award of a Rajya Sabha seat to the former chief election commissioner MS Gill and his later appointment as a union minister. He claimed that under the Modi government India’s Election Commission enjoys complete autonomy.
Rajiv Ranjan Singh, a leader of the Janata Dal (United) and a union minister, said: “The people of the country will never forgive the kind of drama and show that has been going on for the last few days with the aim of spreading anarchy in the country and tarnishing its constitutional institutions.”
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report