What a Televised Death Threat Against Rahul Gandhi Says About India’s Political Decline
A BJP Spokesperson Warns of Bullet to Gandhi’s Chest
September 29, 2025
Rahul Gandhi delivering a speech at Stanford University. Screenshot from YouTube
A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson has reportedly issued a death threat to Rahul Gandhi during a debate on television. The Union Home Ministry has allegedly taken no immediate action even after the opposition Congress party wrote to the Home Minister. The incident marks a sharp decline in the country’s political standards.
Hindustan Times quoted BJP’s Printu Mahadev as saying during a debate on the local News18 local channel, originally in Malayalam and as translated by Google’s AI tool: “In the popular protests in Bangladesh, the people were not with them (government) there. Here, in India, the people are with the Narendra Modi government. Therefore, if Rahul Gandhi sets out with such a desire or dream, a bullet will fall even on Rahul Gandhi's chest. Do not doubt it… Such a Gen-Z riot will not happen at all in great India. It will be suppressed and shots will be fired at you.”
According to The Indian Express, Congress party general secretary K.C. Venugopal wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sept. 28 about the recent death threat to Gandhi. In his letter, he also said there had been multiple instances of death threats and calls for violence against Gandhi, circulated through various social media platforms that were either backed by or linked to the BJP.
Political standards are the expectations that guide how political leaders, parties and institutions conduct themselves in public life. These include more than just legal rules. They involve basic norms, a sense of responsibility and self-restraint. They reflect how seriously those in power respect democratic institutions, their opponents and the people. Strong political standards build trust, allow open disagreement and keep those in office accountable. Weak standards lead to fear, silence and public distrust.
India is a parliamentary democracy, where elected representatives hold both real power and symbolic influence. What they say and do affects how people speak, how institutions respond and how citizens take part in politics. If ruling party leaders make threats, they lower the standard for public speech. Intimidation then takes the place of debate.
India’s post-Independence history has had phases of both strong and declining political standards.
In the early decades, ideological differences between the Congress, the Jan Sangh and the Left parties were sharp, but public conduct remained within limits. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a senior leader of the BJP at the time and who later became India’s prime minister, and Indrajit Gupta, a veteran Communist Party of India parliamentarian, came from different ideological backgrounds. As expected, they disagreed openly but maintained mutual respect in their conduct inside Parliament.
Even during the Emergency from 1975 to 1977, when civil liberties were suspended and institutions came under intense political pressure, official party figures rarely made direct threats of physical harm in public. While opposition leaders were jailed and press freedoms were curtailed, public speech by those in power remained cautious about openly inciting violence, especially on national platforms.
Other democracies have faced similar declines, often with serious consequences.
In the United States, the erosion of political standards became evident during the presidency of Donald Trump, particularly in the lead-up to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump frequently used public rallies and social media to attack political opponents in personal terms, referring to them as “crooked,” “corrupt” or “enemies of the people.”
On the morning of the riot, he addressed a crowd near the White House and urged them to “fight like hell” and march to the Capitol. He did not directly call for violence, but his speech echoed weeks of statements undermining the legitimacy of the election. Later that day, hundreds of Trump supporters breached security barriers and stormed the U.S. Capitol while Congress was in session to certify the Electoral College vote. Lawmakers were forced to evacuate or shelter in place as parts of the Capitol were overrun. Offices were vandalised, property was damaged, and proceedings were suspended.
One rioter, Ashli Babbitt, was fatally shot by Capitol Police while trying to enter a restricted area. Dozens of police officers sustained injuries during the clashes. In court proceedings and interviews, several participants said they believed they were acting on Trump’s wishes or had come because they thought they were defending democracy.
In Brazil, under Jair Bolsonaro, political discourse became laced with threats, conspiracies and personal abuse. In both cases, the common feature was the use of speech to provoke and divide.
Common citizens bear the consequences in multiple ways. They begin to self-censor. Activists and journalists face harassment. Institutions stop responding with independence. A political culture built on fear rather than respect discourages participation and drains faith in the democratic process.
This is also a serious security concern. The normalisation of death threats affects how police and intelligence agencies respond. Instead of acting quickly and independently, they may begin to wait for political signals. This weakens the rule of law and raises the risk of actual violence.
Silence from the ruling party after such a public threat can send a message that aggression is now part of accepted political behaviour. That changes what future leaders, party workers and ordinary citizens believe is normal in politics, and what they think will be rewarded.
To begin restoring political standards, the BJP should immediately remove the spokesperson from all platforms and clearly reject the remarks. The Union Home Ministry must speak without delay and make it clear that threats of any kind have no place in democratic life.
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