Rahul says ‘no democracy in India’, Modi refuses to budge a bit

New Delhi: Some people in Delhi “want to teach me lessons on democracy”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today, hitting back at top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after the latter, in his recent attack of the government and PM Modi, said there was “no democracy” in India and that those who stood up against the PM were labelled terrorists “even if it were (RSS chief) Mohan Bhagwat”. “There are people in Delhi who always taunt and insult me. They want to teach me lessons in democracy. I want to show them Jammu and Kashmir District Development Council polls as an example of democracy. Don’t teach me lesson on democracy,” PM Modi said after launching the Ayushman Bharat scheme for health insurance coverage to all residents of the union territory. However, days after the results, the National Conference alleged that the government is facilitating horse-trading and defections. Meanwhile, former Lok Sabha MP Harinder Singh Khalsa has resigned from the BJP to protest “the insensitivity shown by party leaders and the government towards the sufferings of the farmers, their wives and children protesting against the three agrarian laws”, news agency ANI reported on Saturday.

BJP leaders in Punjab have faced an intense backlash over the three new central government laws that farmers fear will eventually dismantle regulated markets and stop the government buying wheat and rice at guaranteed prices. Thousands of farmers from several states have been camped on the outskirts of New Delhi for over a month, blocking highways to demand that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government repeal the farm laws passed in September with little debate.