We Believe in Peaceful Protests - Shashi Tharoor

The Congress party has rejected comparisons between India’s political situation and the unrest witnessed in France and Bangladesh. The controversy comes amid opposition protests against the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said India was neither Bangladesh nor France and asserted that his party did not support violence or attacks on buses and police stations. He said Congress believed only in constitutional and peaceful protests, adding that its demand was for free and fair elections amid concerns over the alleged removal of large numbers of voters’ names from electoral rolls.

Rajya Sabha MP Pawan Khera also criticised comparisons between India and European countries, calling them an “apples and oranges” comparison. He alleged that peaceful protesters in India faced strict action from the government. Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, however, alleged that attempts were being made to incite street violence in India along the lines of events in Bangladesh and France. He asserted that a change of government in India could happen only through democratic elections, not through conspiracies or foreign forces.