File Picture : ANI/X
LoP Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has strongly criticised the police action against his party’s youth wing activists over the “shirtless protest”, drawing a sharp parallel between Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and the authoritarian regime in North Korea.
“This is India, not North Korea,” Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said in a post in Hindi on X and asserted that peaceful protest is the soul of democracy and not a crime. He said the world’s largest democracy is being slowly pushed in a direction where dissent is labelled as treason and asking questions is called a conspiracy. When those in power start seeing themselves as the nation and dissent as the enemy — that is when democracy dies, Gandhi said.
आज भारत में Compromised PM के राज में शांतिपूर्ण विरोध करना ही सबसे बड़ा “अपराध” बना दिया गया है।
दुनिया के सबसे बड़े लोकतंत्र को धीरे-धीरे ऐसी दिशा में धकेला जा रहा है, जहां असहमति को देशद्रोह और सवाल पूछने को साज़िश बताया जाता है।
सोचिए – मुद्दा कोई भी हो, अगर आप सत्ता के…
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 26, 2026
“In today’s India, under the rule of a compromised PM, peaceful protest has been turned into the biggest crime. The world’s largest democracy is being slowly pushed in a direction where dissent is labelled as treason and asking questions is called a conspiracy,” the former Congress chief said. “Think about it, no matter the issue, if you raise your voice against those in power through constitutional means, then batons, lawsuits, and jail are almost a certainty,” he said. Youth tormented by paper leaks raised their voices for their future and were met with blows from batons, he claimed.
“The country’s proud women wrestlers demanded a fair investigation into serious allegations against a powerful BJP leader. Their cries were defamed, their movement crushed, and they were forcibly removed from the streets.
