NEW DELHI:
Congress president
Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused the BJP-RSS of undermining democratic institutions and implied that the ruling party was turning the nation into a dictatorship or Pakistan.
"One by one, the RSS has captured the independent institutions of the country... This should not happen in a democracy, this happens in dictatorships or in a country like Pakistan," he said.
Addressing a 'Jan Swaraj Sammelan' in Raipur,
Rahul said the Constitution was "under attack" in the country where an atmosphere of fear prevailed.
"The
BJP is creating an atmosphere of fear. They don't want Dalits, backward classes and women to fulfill their dreams," he charged.
Against the backdrop of recent political developments in Karnataka where the BJP and Congress-JD(S) combine are engaged in a pitched battle to come to power, Rahul said the saffron party was resorting to any means to secure a majority in the assembly and form the government.
"The Constitution is under severe attack in the country. In Karnataka, the MLAs are on one side and the governor on the other. JD(S) has said its MLAs have been offered Rs 100 crore each," he claimed.
The Gandhi scion went on to attack BJP chief
Amit Shah, remarking that this was the first time in 70 years that a murder accused had become the president of a national party.
Referring to the extraordinary press conference called by four senior-most Supreme Court judges on various issues relating to the apex court judiciary, Rahul said, "The judiciary is under fear, the press is under fear and even the BJP's MPs are under the same fear as they cannot speak a single word before the prime minister (
Narendra Modi)."
Earlier in the day, Rahul had bemoaned the "defeat of democracy" signalled by the hurried swearing-in ceremony of BJP leader
B S Yeddyurappa and lashed out at the BJP over its "irrational insistence" to form government in Karnataka despite "not having the numbers".
Karnataka governor Vajubhai Vala on Wednesday invited BJP to form the government as it had emerged as the single-largest party winning 104 seats in the assembly election, though it fell 8 seats short of the 112-halfway mark. The Congress, which bagged 78 seats, moved swiftly and forged a post-poll alliance with the 38-strong JD(S)-BSP, taking their combined tally to a clear majority of 116.
