Overview
- Senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot told an event in Jaipur that if Indira Gandhi were alive she would have banned a party like the BJP, accusing the ruling party of deliberately promoting religious polarisation and calling the country’s political atmosphere “extremely dangerous.”
- Gehlot also accused institutions including the Election Commission, the Enforcement Directorate, the CBI and the Income Tax Department of being used against political opponents and urged regional parties to rejoin the Congress and formally accept Rahul Gandhi’s leadership of the INDIA alliance.
- BJP leaders and spokespeople responded within hours with forceful denunciations that labelled Gehlot’s remarks evidence of an “Emergency mindset,” tying his comment to memories of the 1975–77 Emergency and warning that Congress would suppress rivals if it returned to power.
- The exchange has not produced a retraction or apology from Gehlot and analysts say the intervention serves both as partisan signalling and as an effort by Gehlot to repair ties with the Congress high command after past Rajasthan factional tensions.
- The row highlights two ongoing political flashpoints in India: debates over religion-based electoral appeals and repeated opposition claims that central agencies are politicised, and it is likely to sharpen public debate and campaign rhetoric ahead of coming electoral battles.