Congress compares Rahul Gandhi to Nobel Peace Prize winner's fight for democracy
Party spokesperson Surendra Rajput invokes Venezuela's Maria Corina Machado, who won the Nobel prize for defending her country's democracy, to argue that Rahul deserves similar recognition
Congress spokesperson Surendra Rajput on Friday (October 10) in a post on X juxtaposed Rahul Gandhi with this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, seeming to indicate that India’s Leader of Opposition also deserves similar recognition for “fighting the battle to save the country’s Constitution”.
Rajput shared the photos of Machado and Rahul in his post with these words in Hindi, “This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the leader of the opposition in Venezuela for defending the constitution. The leader of the opposition in Hindustan, Shri Rahul Gandhi, is fighting the battle to save the country's constitution.”
Also Read: Maria Corina Machado wins 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, Trump's hopes dashed
Machado’s fight for democracy
Maria Corina Machado is Venezuela’s main opposition leader and has been in the forefront of the fight for democracy in her country.
She has been a unifying force in Venezuela’s opposition, and was forced to go into hiding after receiving threats following last year’s election that many claimed to have been rigged by Maduro, who won.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee, in awarding the Peace Prize to Machado, recognised her commitment in defending her nation’s democratic processes and in carrying out a peaceful campaign to restore democracy.
Also Read: María Corina Machado: The face of Venezuela’s fight for democracy
Rahul’s ‘war’
In India, the Congress party has highlighted Rahul Gandhi’s “war” against what they term the “dictatorship” of the present central government by bringing up issues like the alleged plan of the BJP to change the Constitution, EVM hacking that reportedly benefits the BJP in union and state elections, “vote chori” – referring to the deliberate deletion of names from the electoral rolls, and alleged attempts to end reservations for the backward classes in the country.
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha has said that constitutional bodies like the Election Commission and the judiciary are under attack, and has even alleged that the Election Commission is in cahoots with the ruling party.