‘India is not Bangladesh or France’: Tharoor hits back at BJP, says opposition backs peaceful protest | India News
NEW DELHI: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Monday rejected comparisons between India and Bangladesh or France amid the political row over the opposition’s use of the phrase “regime change”, asserting that the demand was for free and fair elections and not an attempt to topple the government.Responding to Union minister Kiren Rijiju’s remarks, Tharoor said India did not support violence and that protests should remain peaceful. He also questioned the relevance of comparisons with unrest in other countries.“I think that India is not Bangladesh and India is not France. I don’t see these analogies as particularly relevant… We would never condone any of the violence, setting alight buses and police stations and so on, that has occurred in France. We only believe in peaceful protest… that’s the kind of protest that I have participated in, and that I believe the opposition in general supports… As far as the larger issues are concerned, there’s no point distorting a phrase like ‘regime change’ and so on... What we are calling for is free and fair elections… What is troubling today is that large numbers of people have been cut from the electoral rolls as the result of a completely troublesome, irregular, and partially illegal process. This is why we are calling for all this to be undone… It’s a constitutional issue. It’s not an issue of trying to topple a regime or anything like that…”Tharoor also defended citizens’ right to protect democratic institutions, while clarifying that his criticism was directed at their functioning and not their existence.“…Democracy is not a gift of anybody… we, the ordinary citizens of India, are the custodians of it… Every Indian citizen has the right to protect our democracy… All I’m saying is we are asking institutions like the Election Commission to behave themselves, to perform as they are required to by the democratic Constitution of India. That’s all it is. I’m not in any way challenging these institutions as institutions. I’m challenging the way they are behaving, the way they are conducting themselves, and that is something that honestly all of us in India should be concerned about…”
Political row over ‘regime change’
The remarks came amid a political exchange over protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and allegations of irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.On Sunday, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju alleged that “anti-India groups” and some politicians had colluded to provoke young people and spread violence, claiming that a conspiracy similar to the unrest in Bangladesh and France had been planned in India.“The violent incident that occurred in Bangladesh and the riots, arson, and looting that took place in France, a similar conspiracy was hatched for India as well,” Rijiju said in a post on X.He further asserted that a change of government in India could take place only through elections.“Regime change in India is absolutely possible, but only through elections, not through Soros,” he said.The row intensified after senior advocate Prashant Bhushan described the agitation against Kumar as a “fight for regime change”. All India Students’ Association (AISA) president Neha Bora also referred to the Gen Z-led movement in Bangladesh.Rijiju had earlier accused political rivals and activists of using street protests to create unrest and destabilise constitutional institutions. He said India’s youth were focused on nation-building rather than political upheaval.
Tharoor comments on Musk’s Starlink remarks
Separately, Tharoor responded to Elon Musk’s recent remarks regarding Starlink, saying the government had maintained that all companies bidding for the service were going through the same process and facing similar delays.“I’ve heard the government’s explanation on this issue, which is that there is a process and that all the companies bidding for this are in the same process and are facing the same delays. If that position of the government is taken literally, that means Musk is no further behind in the queue, and Ambani is no further ahead. I think we just have to wait for the process to play itself out… There are several factors. There are questions of the technology, certain security concerns, various kinds of details to do with the uplinking and finally cost.
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The last one, the ordinary public will decide. If you are giving me a service and he’s giving it to me for 10 times the price, I may take it from you. Or if I really feel that what he’s doing is worth 10 times the money, I’ll give it to him. Each subscriber will have to decide. Personally, I’m quite happy with my regular connections. I’m not looking for a Starlink myself. But if there are people who feel these things are useful, in a free country, let them have the opportunity.”
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