Rahul Gandhi, effective
leader of India’s biggest opposition party, said Friday that India cannot
become a country that is not allowed to speak. Gandhi, 51, has led the Congress
through several elections since 2014 but has only met defeat. Recently, while
speaking on consolidating an opposition, Gandhi said that only Congress can
emerge as an alternative to the BJP. However, speaking at the ‘Ideas for India’
conference, Gandhi said Congress is in no way “superior” to other opposition
parties.

“We are now
fighting the institutional structure of the Indian state which is being
captured by an organisation which means the only way for us…we will get no
respite from the institutional framework of our country…the only way or us is
to go to the large mass of the Indian people. And that is not just the Congress…that
is for all opposition parties.”

The nuanced
position that the Congress leader took reflects the grand old party’s larger
understanding that it cannot really take on the fight against the BJP alone and
will need to ally with regional forces. The Congress, however, has maintained
its intention to lead the opposition alliance, whichever form it takes.

Talking about the
roots of democracy in India, Gandhi, whose family has helmed the nation for
three generations, said, “Democracy in India is a global public good. It is a
central anchor for the planet. Because we are the only people who have managed
democracy at the scale that we have. If that cracks, it is going to cause a
problem for the planet. And that’s what the United States is realising.”

Underlining that
what is happening today in India is “a systematic attack on the institutions
that allow conversations to take place,” Gandhi said that the battle between
the BJP and the Congress is an ideological battle.

“Congress is the
party that has the ideology at the national level. So, the Congress will have
to think about itself as a structure that is enabling the opposition. In no way
is the Congress superior to the other opposition parties. We are all fighting
the same battle.”

On regional
parties and the role that they can play in building an effective opposition to
the BJP, Rahul Gandhi said, the battle cannot be fought by a regional party
because regional parties have a space but they cannot defeat the BJP because
they have no ideology.

Admitting to one
of BJP’s core strengths, Gandhi said that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)
has built a structure that has penetrated into the large pass. “…The opposition
parties and the Congress need to build such structures. And we need to go much
more aggressively to the large mass of people…the 60-70% of people who do not
vote for the BJP and we need to do it together.”