Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday lashed out at the BJP-led government at the Centre, saying the Constitution was under “severe attack” in the country where an atmosphere of fear prevailed.

Rahul Gandhi was addressing a ‘Jan Swaraj Sammelan’ in Raipur on the occasion of the silver jubilee of 73rd and 74th amendment in the Constitution, which was related to local self-governance. He accused the BJP and the RSS of capturing every democratic institution in country.

Referring to the press conference called by Supreme Court judges on various issues related to the apex court judiciary earlier this year, Gandhi said, “Usually, people go to the Supreme Court for justice. But for the first time in 70 years, we saw SC judges coming to the people complaining that they are being intimidated and they are not being allowed to do their jobs,” said the Congress president.

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He went on to say that things like these happened in Pakistan and Africa.

“Something like this happened for the first time in a democratic country. It happens in dictatorships. It happened in Pakistan and Africa. But this happened for the first time in 70 years in India,” he said.

“The Constitution is under severe attack in the country. In Karnataka, the MLAs are on one side and the governor on the other,” he alleged.

The comments came against the backdrop of the dramatic developments that took place in Karnataka after the Assembly election there threw up a hung verdict.

Earlier today, Rahul Gandhi had taken to Twitter and said the country would mourn the defeat of democracy.

The Congress leader had said BJP’s “irrational insistence” on forming the government was a “mockery of Indian Constitution”.

“The BJP’s irrational insistence that it will form a Govt. in Karnataka, even though it clearly doesn’t have the numbers, is to make a mockery of our Constitution.

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This morning, while the BJP celebrates its hollow victory, India will mourn the defeat of democracy,” Rahul Gandhi wrote on Twitter this morning.

As the BJP legislature party leader B S Yeddyurappa was today sworn in as the chief minister, the leaders of the Congress and JD(S) including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ashok Gehlot, Mallikarjun Kharge, KC Venugopal and Siddaramaiah are protesting the alleged unconstitutional move by the Karnataka Governor outside the Vidhan Soudha in Bangalore.

Yeddyurappa has 15 days to prove his majority in the Assembly.

According to media reports, Congress lawmakers, who stayed at a luxury resort on the outskirts Bengaluru over the fear of poaching, will also participate in the protests held by Congress senior leaders.

(With agency inputs)