Rahul faces flak over comments on 'silence of US' on 'wholesale capture' of Indian institutions

Rahul had alleged that the RSS was filling various institutions of the country with its people

Rahul Gandhi's remarks questioning the silence of the US establishment for what is happening in India on Saturday triggered a backlash on social media, as the former Congress president received flak from several quarters.

During his video interaction with Harvard University professor and former US undersecretary of state for political affairs Nicholas Burns, Rahul claimed that there was a "wholesale capture" of India's institutional framework by the ruling dispensation.

He also alleged that the RSS was filling various institutions of the country with its people.

Read | BJP has captured India's institutional framework: Rahul

"To fight elections, I need institutional structures, I need a judicial system that protects me, I need a media that is reasonably free, I need financial parity, I need a set of institutional structures that allow me to operate as a political party. I do not have them," Gandhi said.

"We are no longer in the same paradigm we were before 2014, we are in a different paradigm. We are in a paradigm where the institutions that are supposed to protect us do not protect us anymore," he added.

However, Rahul's remarks questioning the US silence over what is happening in India attracted criticism from people like former Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal.

Sibal tweeted, "astonished he (Rahul) should goad US to take adverse note of state of democracy in India, take such hallowed view of American democracy while decrying our own and implicitly suggest India not worthy of invitation to summit of democracies Biden proposes. And what game Nick Burns is playing?"

Sangh ideologue Gurumurthy was quoted by Republic TV as saying, "unwise act and makes Indian democracy underdog of the US democracy. Independent Indian Election Commission was made more independent by Seshan; this is what the US needs to do to make its Democracy equal to ours. Seven times US Democracy has got into crisis including 1860 civil war over presidential poll disputes."

BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia also targeted Rahul saying he did not know the "'C' of 'Constitution' and 'D' of 'Democracy' of India".

"I must say that Congress has this unique trait when that when they are in power, they destroy the constitutional institution of the country, but when it is not in power, the party tries to discredit the institution of India," he added.