Tharoor Defends Opposition Protests, Citing 1975 Emergency

Senior Congress leader and Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor has forcefully countered allegations that ongoing opposition-led demonstrations against alleged electoral irregularities are anti-national or orchestrated by Western entities to trigger a "regime change."

Speaking at a prominent public policy summit in New Delhi, Tharoor invoked the historic 1975–77 Emergency period to remind critics of how past authoritarian governance was successfully challenged through unified political action.

"Modi does keep talking about the Emergency and how the Emergency was overthrown," Tharoor stated during an interactive panel. "How was it overthrown? Through an Opposition, where the RSS and the BJP were merging with socialists and leftists. They all united in order to defeat the government that had declared the Emergency. That's recent Indian political history, just half a century ago."

Drawing the Line on Violence

Addressing concerns about escalating demonstrations globally, the former union minister firmly rejected any parallel between India's opposition movement and violent civil unrest witnessed in countries like France.

"I think the line is very clearly drawn by our Constitution, by our laws. It is that peaceful protest is the democratic right of every Indian citizen; violence is not," Tharoor asserted. He added that neither he nor his party would condone or welcome the destructive tactics seen in European demonstrations, reiterating the Congress party's commitment to organized and disciplined action.

Focus on Electoral Accountability

Responding to ruling party narratives surrounding potential "regime change"—a term invoked by various student leaders and activists amid controversies over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls—Tharoor clarified the opposition's ultimate objective.

"We believe in peaceful, organised, and disciplined protest," Tharoor noted. "At the same time, we expect that if we can actually find the government, and the Election Commission as well, willing to be accountable for the deep irregularities through the SIR process... then we believe there will once again be a clean system."

The senior diplomat-turned-politician emphasized that the ultimate goal is not unlawful destabilization, but the restoration of constitutional electoral standards. "In a free and fair election, there will not be 'regime change'; there will be government change. The Indian public has seen the inadequacies of the present government, but we want to bring that about through free and fair elections," he concluded.