Rahul Gandhi, the head of India’s largest opposition party, chastised Modi’s government on Saturday for its constant policy of instilling hatred in the country, saying, “India is not in a healthy place.”
“India is in a bad way,” Rahul, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s arch-rival, said on Friday at the ‘Ideas for India’ summit in London.
The representative further pointed out that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has disseminated kerosene throughout the country. “You need one spark and we’ll be in huge danger,” Rahul added, calling it the opposition, the Congress,’ job to bring people, cultures, states, and faiths together.
The governing party’s spokesperson, Gaurav Bhatia, reacted angrily, accusing the Congress leader of “hurting India” with his anti-Modi position.
Bhatia went on to accuse the opposition leader of “betraying” the country with his words made in a foreign place, according to the Times of India.
The official cautioned Rahul to be “careful” when “speaking ill” of India while abroad.
Late last month, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom stated that religious freedom in India had deteriorated “seriously” under the Hindu nationalist rule, and it proposed targeted sanctions for violations.
It was the third year in a row that the panel requested that India be included to a list of “countries of special concern,” a suggestion that infuriated New Delhi.
The report cited a “culture of impunity for widespread campaigns of threats and violence by mobs and vigilante groups,” as well as the imprisonment of journalists and human rights activists.
