Congress Spokesperson Compares Rahul Gandhi to Venezuela’s Nobel Laureate: ‘Fighting to Save India’s Constitution’

New Delhi: Following Maria Corina Machado, Venezuela’s opposition leader, being awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize for her relentless fight for democracy, Congress spokesperson Surendra Rajput on Friday drew striking parallels between her and Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. Rajput suggested that Gandhi, too, merits recognition for his efforts to safeguard India’s Constitution.

Posting a side-by-side picture of Machado and Rahul Gandhi on X, Rajput wrote in Hindi: “This time, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the opposition leader of Venezuela for defending the constitution. The opposition leader of India, Shri Rahul Gandhi, is leading the fight to save the country’s Constitution.”

The Norwegian Nobel Committee honoured Machado for her unwavering commitment to promoting democratic rights and advocating a peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy in Venezuela. Despite threats and being forced into hiding after last year’s controversial elections, Machado has remained a unifying force for Venezuela’s opposition.

In India, the Congress party has long claimed that Rahul Gandhi has been at the forefront of challenging what it describes as the “dictatorship” of the BJP-led NDA government. Over the past months, Gandhi has raised multiple issues, including alleged vote manipulation, deliberate deletion of voter names in Bihar, EVM tampering, and attempts to dilute reservations for backward classes.

The formation of the INDIA bloc, uniting the opposition against the NDA at both the Centre and state levels, underscores the growing momentum of the anti-government coalition. Opposition leaders allege rising unemployment, an economic slowdown, and erosion of minority and SC/ST rights, along with the suppression of dissenting voices, as key concerns driving their political strategy ahead of the elections.