India’s Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, has slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, accusing its “double-engine” governments of corruption, abuse of power and policies that, he said, have damaged the lives of ordinary citizens.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Gandhi said corruption and arrogance had “spread from top to bottom” in the BJP’s political system, alleging that the poor, labourers and middle class were treated as mere statistics while an “extortion racket” operated in the name of development.
On Friday, he cited several high-profile incidents to question governance under the BJP rule. Referring to the murder of Ankita Bhandari in Uttarakhand, Gandhi said the case continued to raise questions about whether a “BJP VIP” was being protected, and asked when the law would be equal for all.
Bhandari, a 19-year-old receptionist at a resort owned by Pulkit Arya, son of now-expelled Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vinod Arya, was murdered in September 2022. Police said she was killed for refusing to provide sexual favours to a “VIP guest”. In May 2025, a sessions court sentenced Pulkit Arya and two accomplices to life imprisonment.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said his government would do “whatever it takes”, including ordering a fresh investigation, to ensure justice for Ankita Bhandari, amid statewide protests demanding a new probe into her murder. Speaking in Dehradun, Dhami said the case had deeply affected residents, who had expressed their views “with sensitivity”.
Gandhi also pointed to the Unnao case in Uttar Pradesh, saying it had exposed how “criminals were shielded by the arrogance of power” and how victims paid a heavy price in their pursuit of justice. Notably, the rape case involves former BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who was convicted in 2019 of raping a 17-year-old girl under the Pocso Act.
The case shocked the country after the survivor accused police of inaction, tried to self-immolate in 2018 and later survived a suspicious car crash that killed two of her relatives. Her father also died in custody after the family accused Sengar’s men of assaulting him. In 2020, Sengar was separately convicted for culpable homicide in the father’s death. In 2024, the Delhi high court suspended his life sentence and granted conditional bail, triggering protests, before the Supreme Court put the order on hold.
Public Health And Infrastructure
On public health and infrastructure, Gandhi alleged failures ranging from deaths linked to contaminated water supplies in Indore and complaints of polluted water in Gujarat, Haryana and Delhi, to children dying after consuming cough syrup, rats killing newborns in government hospitals and collapsing roofs in state-run schools.
“These are not cases of negligence,” he said, describing them as the direct impact of corruption.
In the Bhagirathpura area of Indore, several people are suspected to have died after drinking polluted water, according to a report by the BBC. Officials said a pipeline leak caused sewage to mix with the drinking water supply. The exact death toll is still unclear, with Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav saying postmortem reports have so far confirmed four deaths, while others have cited higher figures. More than 200 people have been admitted to hospitals in the city, the report added.
Gandhi further criticised environmental policies, alleging that mining and infrastructure projects in areas such as Rajasthan’s Aravali range had prioritised the interests of billionaires, leading to deforestation, pollution and disasters. Notably, despite court orders and environmental regulations, mining of stone and other minerals has continued, leading to deforestation, loss of biodiversity, groundwater depletion and rising air pollution.
The destruction of the Aravali range, one of the oldest mountain systems in the world, has been linked to worsening dust storms, heat and ecological imbalance in north India, raising concerns over weak enforcement and the influence of powerful business interests.
Vijay Dhasmana, an ecological restoration practitioner, earlier told BW Businessworld, “FSI found after ground truthing in Alwar district that the three-degree slope accurately covers the hills as shown by Survey of India maps and ground truthing. The mapping exercise identified more than four lakh hectares of land in the Aravalli hills across 15 districts.”
“Now, as per the report by IE, more than 90 per cent of the hills identified as Aravalli hills by FSI in Rajasthan will be excluded by definition. Roughly 12,081 hills will lose the Aravalli tag/protection and run the risk of mining and real estate pressure. It undercuts all zoning and development restrictions as these areas will not be Aravallis anymore," he stated.
He added that the hills and associated dunes support groundwater recharge in a region already facing a structural shortage. “NCR will face a huge pollution issue, these small hills and sandy dunes that are high groundwater recharge zones, so already scarce groundwater will further deplete,” he said.
Gandhi said repeated incidents of bridge collapses, road cave-ins and fatal train accidents were followed only by “photo-ops, tweets and compensation”. “The ‘double engine’ is running,” he said, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governance slogan, “but only for billionaires,” adding that for ordinary Indians it represented “the speed of devastation”.
A Confident Modi Government
Amid criticism, the PM Modi-led central government is projecting strong economic growth despite steep 50 per cent US tariffs and a slowing global economy, betting that India’s domestic demand, public spending and reform momentum can shield Asia’s third-largest economy from external shocks.
India has projected economic growth of 7.4 per cent in fiscal 2025-26, up from 6.5 per cent in the previous year, according to the first advance estimates of gross domestic product released by the National Statistics Office under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
According to the data, private consumption, which accounts for nearly 60 per cent of the gross domestic product, is projected to grow 7 per cent year-over-year, slightly below the 7.2 per cent expansion recorded in the previous fiscal year. Government expenditure is forecast to increase 5.2 per cent in 2025-26, accelerating from a 2.3 per cent rise a year earlier, while private investment is expected to expand 7.8 per cent, improving on the 7.1 per cent growth seen previously.
Manufacturing, which contributes roughly 13 per cent to India’s GDP, is expected to grow 7 per cent year-on-year in 2025/26, accelerating from 4.5 per cent in the previous year, while construction activity is projected to expand 7 per cent, easing from 9.4 per cent earlier, official data showed. Agricultural output, which supports over 40 per cent of the workforce, is forecast to rise 3.1 per cent in the current fiscal year, slowing from 4.6 per cent a year ago.
Modi last year fast-tracked key domestic reforms, including an overhaul of consumer taxes on hundreds of goods and the rollout of long-pending labour reforms, as his government seeks to sustain growth and reinforce India’s economic resilience. GST cuts, in particular, enhanced affordability and encouraged households to step up discretionary spending, supporting growth across FMCG, consumer durables, and services.
“India’s reform express continues to gain momentum. This is powered by the NDA Government’s comprehensive investment push and demand-led policies. Be it infrastructure, manufacturing incentives, digital public goods or ‘Ease of Doing Business’, we are working to realise our dream of a prosperous India," PM Narendra Modi wrote on X (formerly Twitter), reacting to growth estimates.
Meanwhile, India's real gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 8.2 per cent in the second quarter (July to September) of the 2025-26 financial year, marking its fastest expansion in six quarters, driven by manufacturing, construction, and service sectors, leading to increased employment and domestic demand despite global uncertainties. |
