NEW DELHI: Congress leader Pawan Khera on Friday accused the BJP of hypocrisy over its objections to calls for “regime change”, arguing that the Opposition’s stated goal was to defeat the government through elections.Speaking at a press conference titled “Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyoon Aata Hai”, Khera spoke on defence minister Rajnath Singh’s remarks against the opposition wanting a regime change.“We are we reiterating our objective… we have to defeat this government and change this system. So why has Rajnath Singh ji turned into Jagga Jasoos? Sherlock Holmes,” Khera said, referring to the defence minister’s allegations that the Congress and its allies were using youth-led protests against the Election Commission to fuel political unrest, alleging that they were seeking regime change in India along the lines of BangladeshKhera argued that changing a government through elections was a normal part of democracy and cited the 1977 change of government as an example. “Changing the regime through elections is precisely the Opposition’s goal, what else would our purpose be?” he said, accusing the BJP of having “lost the habit of practising democracy”.The Congress leader also defended the right to protest of people holding OCI cards, referring to controversy surrounding Imran Khan’s alleged plans to organise a protest in India.
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“You praise the diaspora for celebrating Dandiya abroad but question Imran Khan’s right to protest in India because he’s an OCI,” Khera said. He accused the BJP of celebrating the Indian diaspora when it promoted Indian culture overseas but branding members of the same community as traitors when they criticised the government in India.Khera also referred to the controversy surrounding activist Prashant Bhushan’s remarks on regime change, saying Bhushan had been treated as a friend when he made similar demands in 2013 but was now being portrayed as an enemy.He also criticised what he described as the labelling of voices such as Bhojpuri singer Neha Singh Rathore as “leftist”, “urban Naxal” or “feminist”, and said the government should respond to criticism rather than attack its critics.
