Comments made by Indian opposition politician Rahul Gandhi in a lecture at the University of Cambridge have sparked fierce controversy and backlash in India.

Gandhi said that Indian democracy is under attack in a lecture titled Learning to Listen in the 21st Century. Gandhi gave the lecture last month (28/02) at the Cambridge Judge Business School.

Gandhi was the principal challenger in India’s 2019 general election, standing against the current and then-incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He is a member of the main Indian opposition party, the Indian National Congress, serving as its president from December 2017 to July 2019. Gandhi represents the constituency of Wayanad, Kerala in the lower house of the Indian Parliament, the Lok Sabha. He also has links to Cambridge, graduating with an MPhil from Trinity College in 1995.

In his speech, Gandhi stated that “Indian democracy is under pressure, it is under attack”.

Gandhi said: “The institutional framework which is required for a democracy – Parliament, a free press, the Judiciary, just the idea of mobilisation, just the idea of moving around, these are all getting constrained. So we are facing an attack on the basic structure of Indian democracy.” He also said that in India there is an “attack on minorities” and an “attack on the press”.

Gandhi also claimed that spyware had been installed on his phone and those of other Indian political leaders . Gandhi said: “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.”

Pegasus spyware was developed by the Israeli NSO Group in 2016. In 2021, an investigation by 17 media outlets, including The Guardian and The New York Times found that the spyware had been sold to at least 11 governments, including India.

Gandhi’s remarks have been criticised by members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Piyush Goyal, BJP member and the leader of the house in the Indian Council of States, the Rajya Sabha, said: “India is the mother of democracy - a proud and glorious country. A prominent opposition leader goes abroad and attacks Indian democracy. He has insulted the people of India and the Parliament. Rahul Gandhi should apologise in Parliament over the comments.”

The BJP National Spokesperson Shehzad Jai Hind also criticised Gandhi’s remarks on Twitter and referenced his alleged nepotistic rise to power within the party. He said: “The entitled dynast is a serial offender - his hatred for one person transcends into hatred for the country time and again.”

Though not explicitly referring to Gandhi’s speech, current Indian prime minister Narendra Modi said: “Some people sitting in London have the gall to put on trial the mother of all democracies and insult 130 crore [1.3 billion] fellow Indians.”

However, fellow Congress MP Shashi Tharoor defended Gandhi’s remarks saying: “This is a blatant kind of politics because Rahul Gandhi didn’t say what he’s accused of. He specified that ‘we’ll solve issues internally and just want everyone to be aware, Indian democracy is global public good’. There’s nothing that he needs to apologise for.”

Gandhi has been speaking at various locations in the UK, including Chatham House, the UK Parliament and in front of the Indian Journalists Association.