Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday questioned the Narendra Modi government about the police action against members of his party’s youth wing, saying that peaceful protest is not a crime.

Gandhi was commenting on the arrests of Indian Youth Congress President Uday Bhanu Chib and former national spokesperson Bhudev Sharma in connection with a protest at India AI Impact Summit on February 20.

“Modi ji, this is not North Korea, it is India,” the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha remarked on social media. “When those in power start seeing themselves as the nation and dissent as the enemy – that is when democracy dies.”

Gandhi remarked that the world’s largest democracy was being “pushed in a direction where dissent is labelled as treason and asking questions is called a conspiracy”.

“Think about it – no matter the issue, if you raise your voice against those in power through constitutional means, then batons, lawsuits and jail are almost a certainty,” the Congress leader remarked.

Gandhi referred to past crackdowns on protests against exam paper leaks, agitations by women wrestlers who accused Bharatiya Janata Party leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexual harassment and a protest by the Unnao rape complaint against bail to former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar.

“What kind of democracy is this, where a compromised PM fears questions?” the Congress leader asked. “Where crushing dissent is becoming the nature of governance?”

Gandhi further remarked: “Peaceful protest is not a crime – it is the soul of democracy. Asking questions is not democracy’s weakness – it is its strength. Democracy grows stronger when the government listens to criticism, responds and remains accountable.”

Youth Congress protest

Members of the Indian Youth Congress had held a protest during the artificial intelligence summit in Delhi on February 20, shouting slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and holding placards alleging that he was “compromised”.

The Delhi Police, which reports to the Union home ministry, has filed a case against the protesters, accusing them of rioting and promoting enmity between groups. It has alleged that the protest was an attempt to disrupt the high-profile event at Bharat Mandapam.

On Thursday, a confrontation took place between police personnel from Delhi and Himachal Pradesh on the Chandigarh-Shimla highway when three Youth Congress members were arrested in connection with the protest.

The two police forces accused each other of obstructing their investigations. The police in Congress-governed Himachal Pradesh filed a first information report against several Delhi Police personnel, accusing them of kidnapping the members of the ruling party’s youth wing.

Gandhi has been claiming since February 3 that Modi has been “compromised”, adding that he has “sold out” the “sweat and blood” of the country’s farmers by buckling under pressure from the United States to finalise a trade deal.