By any measure, Rahul Gandhi’s latest remarks are political dynamite. With a few blunt sentences, he peeled away the shiny marketing label of “world’s largest democracy” and exposed the machinery underneath, a state held hostage by the ideology of Hindutva.

For decades, India’s establishment has thrived on a carefully cultivated global image: an inclusive democracy, home to a vibrant press, and blessed with “strong institutions.” Western capitals swallowed the story whole. Even in Pakistan, there were voices who grudgingly pointed to India’s Election Commission as a model, praising its “independence” and contrasting it with our own messy politics. But Rahul Gandhi has just told the world what many Indians already whisper: the Election Commission has been reduced to a compliant servant of the RSS-BJP combine. It no longer stands above politics. It sits in Modi’s pocket.

India’s international friends once praised it as a counterweight to China, a democratic partner in the Indo-Pacific, a market of a billion eager consumers. Rahul Gandhi’s revelations have put a crack in that........

© Daily Times