Democracy destroyed in 2014, 'fascists' running India: Rahul

Hyderabad: India ceased to be a democracy in 2014 and its institutions had since been taken over by fascists, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said Saturday, targeting BJP-headed NDA govt over electoral manipulation, voter deletions through SIR and the alleged nexus between business and politics."We are going to defeat Modi and get rid of him... You can see it on the streets in Delhi and in the fear Modi and Amit Shah have. This already is a done deal."Addressing the valedictory session of Bharat Summit 2026 in Hyderabad, the LoP slammed the mass deletion of voters through SIR of electoral rolls.He apologised to foreign delegates and leaders who could not attend the summit after their visas were cancelled. "It was not our fault, but it gives you a sense of what we are dealing with within our country."Rahul said the 2014 Lok Ssabhe polls marked an unprecedented change in India's electoral system, with "millions and millions of dollars" injected into politics. "Later, we discovered and have proven beyond doubt that democracy in India was destroyed in 2014."

Citing Maharashtra, he said the alliance of Congress, Sena UBT and NCP-SP won a majority of seats in the Lok Sabha elections but was "decimated" in the assembly polls three months later.

"We ceased to exist as a political formation.""When we analysed the numbers, the alliance parties got the same number of votes in both elections and seven million new voters were magically added in three months and they helped BJP win."He also accused the NDA govt of using institutions against opposition politicians. "I have 45 cases against me. Every opposition politician has cases in different parts of the country. We travel from one state to another to deal with them."Taking aim at the alleged nexus between business and politics, Rahul referred to a businessman who was the world's sixth-richest before BJP came to power and rose to second place through what he called a "fusion of politics and business".