Democracy being ‘disrobed’, Sonia Gandhi invokes Mahabharata

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, April 6

Drawing from one of the most dramatic episodes of the epic Mahabharata, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of doing “cheerharan” (disrobing) of the country and its democratic traditions.

In Mahabharata, Kaurava prince Dushasan tried to strip Pandava queen Draupadi in full court in the presence of all the elders of the kingdom. Draupadi never forgot the insult and made sure it was avenged.

Addressing a rally at Jaipur in Rajasthan, Sonia accused the Prime Minister of using various tactics to force Opposition leaders to join the BJP. “Today, our country’s democracy is in danger. Democratic institutions are being destroyed and a conspiracy is being hatched to change our Constitution. This is dictatorship and we all will give a befitting reply,” she alleged. Sonia alleged that obsessed with himself, Modi was “disrobing the country and its democratic traditions”.

“There’s darkness and injustice all around. We all should fight against this. For the last 10 years, our country has been under the leadership of a government that has promoted unemployment, inflation, discrimination and atrocity. What the Modi government has done is in front of us all,” the former Congress president said. Addressing the gathering, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra referred to the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren by federal agencies and said the Opposition in the country was under attack.

“Unemployment and inflation are at their peak and paper leaks are happening in every state. There is no one to listen to the poor and the farmers. We have named our manifesto ‘Nyay Patra’. It’s not a list of announcements, but the voice of the nation that wants justice,” she said.