Rahul Gandhi Flags SIR, Electoral Irregularities, Says 'Democracy Has Declined Since 2014'

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi addressed the gathering on the final day of the Bharat Summit 2026 at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre, where he apologised to delegates who could not attend the event, blaming the Indian government for their absence.

“I want to apologise to all the delegates who were supposed to come but could not make it because of the Government of India. This is not our fault. You must have got an idea of what we are dealing with here,” Gandhi said.

During his address, Gandhi spoke about the deletion of voters' names from electoral rolls under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), alleged electoral irregularities and what he described as the decline of democracy in India since 2014.

#WATCH | Hyderabad, Telangana: Lok Sabha LoP and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi says, "In 2014, we witnessed a completely new election, something we've never seen before. Millions and millions and millions of dollars injected into the political system...

The electoral system that was used to close fights, coalition, is suddenly upturned, and I would be lying if I said that the opposition was in shock... There was this crisis in Indian politics for a decade. And then suddenly, we discovered what was happening.

We discovered it, and we have proven it without any doubt is that democracy was destroyed in India in 2014." Expressing confidence about defeating Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gandhi said, “I can say with full confidence that we are going to defeat Modi.

We are going to get rid of him. You can see it on the streets. You can also see it in the fear in Modi and Amit Shah's minds. This is already decided.” He also referred to fascism, saying that people with fascist tendencies often have louder voices and consider themselves all-knowing, while refusing to listen to others.

The majority, he said, is humble. Gandhi said people with fascist tendencies had been shouting for the past decade, while the majority of the population was observing what was happening. Referring to the 2014 elections, he said the country witnessed an election unlike any it had seen before, with millions of dollars being spent.

He added that the Opposition was left shocked and had remained in that state for the past decade. Gandhi also raised questions over the electoral process, referring to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the deletion and classification of voters.

He claimed that 140 million people who voted in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were subsequently categorised as non-existent voters or non-voters. Questioning the validity of the elections, he asked how the process could be considered legitimate if the Election Commission of India declared 140 million voters invalid.

Citing Maharashtra, Gandhi said the Opposition alliance had won the Lok Sabha elections but lost the Assembly polls three months later. He claimed that seven million new voters were added and voted for the BJP, leading to its victory.

Gandhi said the Congress had fought for the Constitution and freedom. He added that the party had come to understand during its journey that its history went beyond Mahatma Gandhi. He said the party had found two powerful weapons — truth and non-violence — and argued that anger, violence, fear and hatred would not work, while love would.

Gandhi said the party had consequently begun listening to people and connecting with them in a different way. Referring to the saying that people can be fooled for some time but not all people all the time, Gandhi reiterated his confidence that the Congress would defeat Modi.

“You can fool all the people for some time, and some people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. I am saying with confidence that we will defeat Modi. You can see it on the streets. You can see the fear in Amit Shah's eyes,” he said.

He added that the Opposition could not defeat the BJP through hatred and violence, saying, “We are not like them.” He apologized to delegates who couldn't attend, blaming the Indian government for their absence.

He suggested their inability to attend was due to government actions.