The BJP is not holding back anymore. On Thursday they came out swinging at the Congress after this Fox News report started doing the rounds. The report claims there’s some connection between the messy riots that happened in France and the protests we’ve been seeing here in India against the Election Commission’s voter list revision.
BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia stood up in front of the cameras and straight up called Rahul Gandhi a “gaddar.” He even compared him to Mir Jafar. That’s strong language. He said this Fox News investigation, the one titled “Global Chaos Inc Grows to 101 Groups,” shows how different organisations across countries have been pushing protests, including the ones in France and the ones here demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar step down.
According to the report, they’ve identified around 101 groups in several countries that form what they call a “red-green” protest network — red meaning communist and left groups, green meaning Islamist ones. It specifically names this France-based group called Indian Alliance Paris, saying they were linking the messages from the French protests with the ones happening in India. It also points to Progressive International, this left-leaning international network, for putting the protests in France, Spain, India and Albania in the same basket and talking about building power through rebellion.
Bhatia jumped on all of this. He said the protests against the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls were just an excuse. The real goal, according to him, was to create chaos and weaken elected institutions. He brought up a meeting that Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi had with people from Progressive International at 10 Janpath back in April 2025 and asked the Congress to come clean about what was discussed and whether any kind of understanding still exists. He also claimed that Indian Alliance Paris was one of the first to share videos whenever Rahul Gandhi got detained during the Delhi protests.
Another BJP leader, Pradeep Bhandari, posted on X calling the whole thing proof of an “anarchy and regime change plot” by the Congress. Same points about Progressive International and that April meeting.
Now, the protests in India have been about the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision. Opposition parties, Congress included, say a lot of names are being deleted from the voter lists in a way that looks targeted. They’ve been holding demonstrations, including student ones in Delhi, asking for the CEC to resign and for the process to be stopped or made transparent. The government and the Commission keep saying it’s just a normal clean-up of the rolls.
Congress isn’t taking this quietly. Jairam Ramesh shot back saying “vote chori” is real and that the BJP side is spreading lies because they’re nervous. Earlier, Shashi Tharoor had already said India is not France or Bangladesh. He made it clear the opposition only supports peaceful protest for free and fair elections and has no interest in the kind of burning and looting that happened in France.
The Fox News report itself started by looking at the groups involved in France’s student protests over school conditions and living costs. Those turned ugly — vehicles on fire, shops damaged, clashes with police. The later version expands the list and tries to draw lines to protests in other places, including here.
Whether these groups are actually coordinating or just sharing similar language online is still up for debate. What’s not up for debate is that the BJP is using this report hard. They’re painting the opposition’s agitation as something bigger and more dangerous than a fight over voter lists. Congress keeps saying their only concern is protecting the fairness of elections and that talking about foreign conspiracies is just a way to distract from the real issues at home.
This back-and-forth isn’t going to die down soon. The questions around the voter list revision, trust in the Election Commission, and how far protest can go are still very much alive. Both sides have drawn their lines, and this report has given the BJP fresh material to keep pushing while the Congress digs in on its demand for clean elections.
Sources: Reports and statements carried by India Today, Deccan Herald, Times of India, ThePrint, Outlook, News18, Economic Times, Firstpost and ANI covering the comments by Gaurav Bhatia, Pradeep Bhandari, Jairam Ramesh and Shashi Tharoor.
@Rohit Manral
