Indian democracy under attack: Rahul Gandhi in Cambridge

Indian democracy is under attack and several politicians, including himself, are under surveillance, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi alleged during a lecture at Cambridge university, drawing sharp reactions from the BJP that accused him of maligning the country’s image on foreign soil after facing successive electoral setbacks. Gandhi, who is a Visiting Fellow of the Cambridge Judge Business School, made the comments during a lecture ‘Learning to Listen in the 21st Century’ on Tuesday evening, a video recording of which was posted on Twitter by Congress leader Sam Pitroda, ex-adviser to former prime minister Manmohan Singh. Referring to the controversial Pegasus snooping issue, Gandhi alleged that the Israeli spyware was installed on the phones of a large number of politicians, including him. ”I, myself, had Pegasus on my phone. A large number of politicians have Pegasus on their phones. I’ve been called by intelligence officers who say please be careful what you say on the phone because we are sort of recording this stuff. So, this is a constant pressure that we feel,” the 52-year-old former Congress chief claimed. The former Congress president listed five key aspects of the alleged attack on Indian democracy –Capture and control of media and judiciary; surveillance and intimidation; coercion by federal law enforcement agencies; attacks on minorities, Dalits and tribals; and shutting down of dissent.