Rahul Gandhi, a key leader of India's main opposition party Congress, on Thursday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi would even label Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat a "terrorist" if he opposed the government policy.
The RSS is the ideological fountainhead of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
"PM Modi is making money for the crony capitalists. Whoever will try to stand against him will be called a terrorist, be it farmers, labourers and even Mohan Bhagwat. There is no democracy in India. It can be in your imagination, but not in reality," said Gandhi.
🎥Shri Rahul Gandhi addresses the media after meeting with the Hon'ble President of India at Rashtrapati Bhawan. https://t.co/rcr73Dqu72
— All India Mahila Congress (@MahilaCongress) December 24, 2020
The political attack against Prime Minister Modi by the Congress parliamentarian came after the opposition leader's meeting with Indian President Ram Nath Kovind.
Gandhi and other senior Congress leaders submitted a memorandum containing 20 million signatures from farmers across the country addressed to the Indian President, demanding his intervention to annul the new farm laws.
The Congress leader also warned the Modi government that the agitation against the farmer laws would continue at the Delhi state borders until the new farm laws were repealed.
"The government should convene a Joint Session of Parliament and take back these laws. The Opposition parties stand with farmers and labourers," demanded the 50-year-old Gandhi.
Earlier in the day, as Gandhi led a protest march against the farm laws to the Indian Presidential Palace (Rashtrapati Bhawan) many Congress activists and leaders accompanying him were taken into preventive detention by police.
Prime Minister Modi has in the recent weeks squarely blamed the opposition parties for "misleading" the protesting farmers, arguing that the new farm-related laws would help boost farmers' income.
The Prime Minister's assurances have, however failed to find a receptive ear among the farmers, who have been protesting at the Delhi state borders for almost a month.
Several rounds of negotiations between the protesting farmers and the federal government, led by Indian Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, have failed to resolve the ongoing deadlock.
