Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Monday rejected the BJP's charge that the Opposition was seeking “regime change” similar to Bangladesh and France, while asserting that they wanted to address a “constitutional issue.”
“I think that India is not Bangladesh and India is not France. I don't see these analogies as particularly relevant...” Tharoor said, adding that the Opposition had been calling for “free and fair elections”.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP further said that the Opposition believes in “peaceful protest”. “.. We would never condone any of the violence, setting alight buses and police stations and so on, that has occurred in France. We only believe in peaceful protest... that's the kind of protest that I have participated in, and that I believe the opposition in general supports...” Tharoor told news agency ANI. He said there was “no point distorting a phrase like ‘regime change.’”
Also Read | Uddhav Thackeray backs regime change, says curtailing electoral rights and protests justifies call
Tharoor's remarks come after Union parliamentary affairs minister and BJP leader Kiren Rijiju had alleged that some “anti-India groups and politicians had colluded to incite youth and spread violence in India.”
{{/usCountry}}Tharoor's remarks come after Union parliamentary affairs minister and BJP leader Kiren Rijiju had alleged that some “anti-India groups and politicians had colluded to incite youth and spread violence in India.”
{{/usCountry}}“Regime change in India is absolutely possible—but only through elections, not through Soros,” Rijiju said in a post on X.
‘Not challenging institutions, but the way they are behaving’: Tharoor
Tharoor claimed that “large numbers of people have been cut from the electoral rolls”, referring to the SIR exercise as “a completely troublesome, irregular, and partially illegal process.”
He said the Opposition was calling for it “to be undone”, while adding, “It's not an issue of trying to topple a regime or anything like that...”
He further said that he was not challenging constitutional institutions, but the way in which they were behaving. “... All I'm saying is we are asking institutions like the Election Commission to behave themselves, to perform as they are required to by the democratic Constitution of India. That's all it is. I'm not in any way challenging these institutions as institutions. I'm challenging the way they are behaving, the way they are conducting themselves,” Tharoor told ANI.
He said that this was something “all of us in India should be concerned about.” “Democracy is not a gift of anybody... we, the ordinary citizens of India, are the custodians of it... Every Indian citizen has the right to protect our democracy...” the Congress MP stated.
Also Read | Congress, allies want Bangladesh-style regime change in India: Rajnath Singh
Bangladesh-like ‘conspiracy hatched for India’: Rijiju
In a post on X, Rijiju had claimed, “The violent incident that occurred in Bangladesh and the riots, arson, and looting that took place in France—a similar conspiracy was hatched for India as well.”
He alleged that “anti-India gangs”, along with some politicians, “had colluded to incite the youth and spread violence on our streets.” “But those who devised this dangerous conspiracy forgot that India is neither Bangladesh nor France,” Rijiju added.