Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party has criticized opposition leader Rahul Gandhi’s claim that he is ‘fighting the Indian state’
Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has come under fire from Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for claiming that his political organization is ‘fighting the Indian state.’ Gandhi’s comments resemble the playbook of US billionaire George Soros on destabilizing countries, according to BJP leaders.
At the opening of his Indian National Congress party’s new headquarters in New Delhi, Gandhi alleged that the BJP and RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a right-wing Hindu nationalist organization) had captured all institutions in the country, and that Congress was fighting not just these groups, but also the “Indian state itself.”
Reacting to the remark, BJP President J P Nadda said these statements had exposed the “ugly truth” of Congress, India’s oldest political party, which is now in opposition.
Nadda, who serves as minister of health, family welfare, chemicals and fertilizers, claimed that Congress had “close links” to anti-national elements and “the deep state who want to defame, demean and discredit India.”
“His repeated actions have also strengthened this belief. Everything he has done or said has been in the direction of breaking India and dividing our society,” Nadda wrote in a post on X.
Hidden no more, Congress’ ugly truth now stands exposed by their own leader.
I ‘compliment’ Mr. Rahul Gandhi for saying clearly what the nation knows- that he is fighting the Indian state!
It is not a secret that Mr. Gandhi and his ecosystem have close links with Urban Naxals…
The Congress party has repeatedly denied having links to Soros. Party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate questioned such allegations from the BJP in December, noting that the Indian government was the fourth-largest donor to the UN Democracy Fund, which supports Soros’ foundations.
Since early 2023, the Hungarian-American financier and philanthropist has been a target of the BJP’s rhetoric, with the party accusing him of funding the opposition and supporting critics of Narendra Modi to destabilize the country.
In February 2023, Soros criticized Modi while speaking at the Munich Security Conference. He brought up allegations of financial fraud against the Adani Group, one of India’s largest conglomerates headed by Gautam Adani, who is considered close to Modi. Soros said these allegations would “significantly weaken Modi’s stranglehold on India’s federal government.”
New Delhi reacted by describing Soros as “old, rich, opinionated and dangerous” because he’s willing to invest his money in “shaping narratives.”
The war of words came against a backdrop of several investigative reports alleging financial misconduct by the Adani Group, published by Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which stated that Soros’ Open Society Foundations was one of its sponsors.
The discussion around potential “Soros-linked interests” in Indian domestic affairs intensified in the lead-up to the 2024 parliamentary elections, which saw the BJP failing to secure a clear majority on its own. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which includes the BJP and its regional allies, however, won the election after securing 293 of the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament), giving Modi a third term as prime minister.
In December 2024, the BJP cited a report by the French media outlet Mediapart that alleged direct links between the OCCRP’s investigations and US government funding. While the report didn’t mention India-related investigations, the BJP alleged that Soros and the US Department of State were backing a campaign to “destabilize” Modi’s government. The French outlet accused the BJP of distorting its reporting to promote a “conspiracy theory.”
