- Sunday, April 27, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Indian National Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, one of India’s major opposition leaders said in a lecture at the Cambridge university this week that the democracy in his country is under threat claiming that several politicians, including himself, were being watched.
The 52-year-old made the comments during his lecture on ‘Learning to Listen in the 21st Century’, which was shared by senior entrepreneur Sam Pitroda, an ex-advisor to former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh.
Here is the full Video of Rahul Gandhi’s Lecture at @CambridgeMBA @CambridgeJBS
“The art of listening” when done consistently and diligently is “very powerful,” – @RahulGandhi https://t.co/4ETVo0X45f#BharatJodoYatra#RahulGandhiinCambridge pic.twitter.com/tDI4ONieG0
— Sam Pitroda (@sampitroda) March 3, 2023
Raking up the alleged Pegasus snooping issue against the Narendra Modi government which created a huge uproar in India’s political circles in 2021, Gandhi said the Israeli spyware was installed on the mobile phones of a number of politicians, including him. He even said that intelligence officials urged him to communicate carefully over the phone as they were recording stuff.
A proud moment when @RahulGandhi delivered his lecture at @CambridgeJBS as a Visiting Fellow.
He spoke on ‘Learning To Listen In The 21st Century’. He has consistently given people a place to voice their opinion & with Bharat Jodo Yatra has ushered in a new paradigm in politics. pic.twitter.com/2MnqXIonAP
— Congress (@INCIndia) March 2, 2023
“Indian democracy is under pressure and under attack. The institutional framework which is required for a democracy… parliament, free press, the judiciary, just the idea of mobilisation–these are all getting constrained. We are facing an attack on the basic structure of democracy,” he said.
Gandhi noted that in the Indian Constitution, the country is described as a Union of States and that Union requires negotiation and conversation.
“It is that negotiation that is under attack and threat…there is also an attack on minorities and the press.
“A large number of political leaders have Pegasus on their phones. I myself had Pegasus on my phone. I’ve been called by intelligence officers who say please be careful of what you say on the phone as we are recording the stuff,” the former Congress chief claimed.
“I have got a number of criminal liable cases registered against me for the things which shouldn’t be under criminal cases. As the opposition, it is very difficult to communicate with people when you have this type of an assault on the media and on the democratic architecture,” he said.
(With inputs from PTI)
