Rajnath accuses opposition of seeking Bangladesh-style change

Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has accused the Congress and its political allies of seeking to engineer a Bangladesh-style change of government in India, alleging that they are exploiting young people to foment confrontation and unrest.

Speaking at a press conference in New Delhi on Friday, October 16, amid protests targeting the Election Commission, Singh maintained that democracy does not entitle anyone to incite disorder or undermine the credibility of constitutional institutions, according to a report by The New Indian Express. Furthermore, he alleged that the Congress and its allies were mobilising young people, both directly and through affiliated organisations, for political confrontation rather than constructive engagement and nation-building.

Claiming that opposition figures had drawn inspiration from Bangladesh’s political transition, Singh asserted that some had openly acknowledged this influence, while others had spoken of toppling the government. Consequently, he argued that such remarks betrayed an intention to destabilise the country and erode its democratic institutions. Moreover, he contended that the use of the term “regime change” suggested that the opposition’s campaign extended well beyond electoral reform or the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

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His remarks came as opposition parties and civil society groups staged demonstrations in New Delhi, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the SIR process. Singh, however, presented his reading of the opposition’s motives as part of his political critique. Nevertheless, his allegations of a Bangladesh-style plot and of efforts to destabilise democratic institutions have not been independently established as fact.