BJP leader slams Opposition on 'regime change', says India not Bangladesh

BJP's Kali Prasad Rao criticised the opposition's 'regime change' narrative, asserting India will not become Bangladesh and change must be via elections. He accused Rahul Gandhi of brainwashing citizens and urged them to fight electorally.

BJP slams opposition's 'regime change' narrative

BJP State Executive Member Kali Prasad Rao on Tuesday criticised the opposition over its remarks on regime change, asserting that India would not become Bangladesh and that any change in government must take place through elections.

Reacting to Congress leader Shashi Tharoor's remarks about the India-Bangladesh comparison, Rao told ANI, "India never becomes Bangladesh. Neha Bora, who openly admitted that she was inspired by the Bangladesh agitation, which was led by the Bangladesh Islamic Radical Union, who targeted Bangladesh Hindus.”

Further, Rao alleged that the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, and the Congress were making baseless allegations. “Lastly, they simply said that regime change means fair elections and fair transformation of government. But it is false. Rahul ji and CJP have no ideology; they always allege baseless allegations against central government. They are always demanding. They have lost faith in central government and constitutions and institutions of India. They are continuously brainwashing Indian citizens for regime change,” he said.

The BJP leader further alleged that the opposition were raising the issue out of frustration and urged them to contest elections rather than stage street protests. “But slowly people of India came to know that it is being done by Rahul ji and CJP out of frustration. They should fight in electoral wars. But they should not fight in streets,” Rao said.

Reiterating his stand, Rao said India would remain a democracy and that attempts to bring about regime change through protests would not succeed. “Regime change is not possible in India. Why? Because it is the largest democratic country in the world. People know which is right and which is wrong. The haters who are going against the central government will fail. The regime change will not occur in India,” he added.

Tharoor clarifies, calls for 'free and fair elections'

Meanwhile, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, while speaking to ANI, comparing India and Bangladesh amid the war of words over a narrative of "regime change", said that he does not see any similarities between India, Bangladesh, or France. "I think that India is not Bangladesh, and India is not France. I don't see these analogies as particularly relevant. We would never condone any of the violence, setting alight buses and police stations and so on, that has occurred in France," the former diplomat said, also referring to the riots in France over a rise in the cost of living and other issues.

Tharoor said the Opposition believes in and supports only peaceful protest and is only demanding free and fair elections, which is a Constitutional issue, not an alleged "regime change". "As far as the larger issues are concerned, there's no point distorting a phrase like regime change and so on. What we are calling for is free and fair elections. What is troubling today is that large numbers of people have been cut from the electoral rolls as the result of a completely troublesome, irregular and partially illegal process. This is why we are calling for all this to be undone. It's a constitutional issue. It's not an issue of trying to topple a regime or anything like that," Tharoor said. (ANI)

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)