When Rahul Gandhi remarked, ‘Media cannot show courage; it is not possible’

“How are you enjoying the onset of dictatorship in India?” This tweet by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was sharp and sarcastic in equal measure.

Addressing the media on Friday at the party headquarters, just before he joined the protests against price rise, inflation and GST and got detained, Rahul Gandhi called Indian democracy a thing of the past.

“Democracy is a memory,” said Rahul, an expression which was later tweeted from his account.

“What we are witnessing is the death of democracy. That is what India is witnessing. What India has built brick by brick, starting almost a century ago, is basically being destroyed in front of your eyes,” he added.

A few minutes into the press conference, Rahul Gandhi made a telling remark even as Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was speaking on the ED conducting searches at Herald House in the Capital. Even as Gehlot appealed to NGOs, activists and the media to show courage, Rahul quipped, “Media cannot show courage. It is not possible”.

Rahul said just as it was his responsibility as an opposition leader to raise people’s issues, the media's responsibility was to amplify the voice of the opposition.

He also pointed out how the BJP was dominating the entire system. “The whole infrastructure is controlled by one party. Financial infrastructure is under their control. If someone raises questions, ED and CBI go after them. People are intimidated. The opposition is fighting back aggressively, but due to the BJP’s monopoly, the impact is not as visible as it should be,” he said.

When a TV journalist remarked that the BJP had assumed power after winning elections, Rahul Gandhi went on to draw a parallel between the ruling party and German leader Adolf Hitler without naming the former.

“Hitler also came to power after winning elections. How did Hitler win the elections? All institutions of Germany were under his control. He had paramilitary forces. He had control over the whole infrastructure of Germany,” the former Congress chief said.