Congress Party scion Rahul Gandhi on Friday promised exemplary punishment for those sabotaging democracy in India.
In a video tweeted by Gandhi, he can be heard giving assurance to an audience that the next non-BJP government -- whenever it comes -- will take such action against people manipulating government systems and agencies that it will remain a warning to everyone forever.
"If these institutions had carried out their duty, if the CBI carried out what was right, if ED did what was appropriate, then this would never have happened," Gandhi can be heard telling an audience, apparently in response to a question on how institutions in India are being used to thwart the functioning of Indian democracy.
The question reflects an widespread concern among those affiliated or supportive of non-BJP parties that the BJP is misusing its power to ensure that the opposition parties can never mount a challenge to the party in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
They feel the central government has made extensive use of the Enforcement Directorate -- an agency that was originally meant for preventing financial crimes such as money laundering -- to prosecute opposition leaders and disrupt their funding.
They have also said that investigative agencies such as ED, CBI and the Income Tax Department are being used to dig out dirt about opposition politicians, which is then allegedly being used to engineer splits and divisions in those parties.
Over the last five years, the ruling BJP has attracted many key opposition MPs and MLAs to leave their parties and cooperate with it.
At the same time though, the opposition leaders who have joined the saffron outfit have denied that they have been blackmailed into joining the saffron front.
"The people who are doing all this should keep in mind.. sooner or later, the BJP government will change.. and then, there will be action," Gandhi said.
"And the action taken will be such, that I am giving you my guarantee that something like this will never take place again," he added.
The comments are a rare sign of aggression from the politician, who has always tried to maintain an air of cool unflappability.
They seem to be an attempt to reflect, and potentially tap into, the angst felt by certain sections in the country that there is an 'undeclared emergency' in the country, and that democracy in India is under grave danger.
India is scheduled to go to the polls in April and May in a general election that is currently seen to be in favor of the BJP.
The ruling party has successfully shut down many of the funding avenues of the opposition parties, and -- according to some -- tamed voices of dissent in the public sphere.
