Rahul Gandhi’s Berlin Rhetoric and the Smokescreen of Indian Democracy: Why EVMs Remain the Untouched Core of Election Theft

 

Rahul Gandhi’s Berlin Rhetoric and the Smokescreen of Indian Democracy: Why EVMs Remain the Untouched Core of Election Theft

Despite occasionally making sharp remarks—such as stating that the “soul of the king is in the EVM”—Rahul Gandhi has never built a mass, indefinite movement demanding the abolition of EVMs and restoration of ballot-paper elections.

By Rakesh Raman
New Delhi | December 23, 2025

As India’s democratic institutions face unprecedented erosion, Congress leader and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi has once again chosen a foreign seminar hall—this time the Hertie School in Berlin—to warn the world about the “weaponisation” of India’s institutional framework under the Narendra Modi-led BJP government. Predictably, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) responded with ritual outrage, accusing Gandhi of “abusing India abroad.” The cycle ended there—exactly as it has for years.

What remains conspicuously untouched, however, is the real engine of electoral control in India: Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and the elaborate political Smokescreen built to divert attention away from them.

The Berlin Speech: Lofty Words, No Political Consequence

Speaking to students and academics in Berlin, Rahul Gandhi argued that India’s institutions—election authorities, investigative agencies, media, and judiciary—have been systematically captured to favour the ruling BJP. He spoke of democracy as a “constant process of engagement, responsibility, and accountability,” and called for the Opposition to develop “a system of resistance that will succeed.”

Such rhetoric, while intellectually palatable to a foreign academic audience, is politically sterile in the Indian context.

Rahul Gandhi has delivered similar speeches for years—at universities, think tanks, and international conferences—without translating them into any sustained, coercive political action at home. After each foreign address, the BJP issues a curt rebuttal accusing him of defaming India. The news cycle closes. Gandhi returns to Delhi. Elections arrive. Congress contests them on EVMs. Congress loses. BJP wins. The Smokescreen holds.

The Smokescreen: Institutions as Distraction, Not the Core Problem

There is no dispute that India’s institutions are under strain. The Election Commission of India (ECI), investigative agencies such as the ED and CBI, and large sections of the media function in ways that overwhelmingly favour the Modi regime. But institutional capture is not the cause of BJP’s electoral dominance—it is the protective layer around it.

The core problem lies elsewhere.

India’s elections are conducted on a non-verifiable, opaque electronic voting system where:

• Votes cannot be publicly audited,
• The voter cannot confirm whether their vote is counted correctly,
• Independent scrutiny of EVM software and architecture is denied,
• Mock ballot-paper elections by citizens are blocked by police,
• CCTV footage, machine logs, and granular voting data are routinely withheld.

This is not a technical flaw. It is a structural design choice—one that enables election outcomes to be controlled while maintaining the appearance of democracy.

Everything else—welfare announcements, nationalism, communal polarization, opposition incompetence, media theatrics, and even institutional capture—functions as a Smokescreen to keep public debate away from EVMs.

Rahul Gandhi’s Strategic Failure: Avoiding the Core Question

Despite occasionally making sharp remarks—such as stating that the “soul of the king is in the EVM”—Rahul Gandhi has never built a mass, indefinite movement demanding the abolition of EVMs and restoration of ballot-paper elections.

Instead, Congress:

• Raises EVM concerns episodically,
• Confines protests to press conferences and Parliament,
• Avoids election boycotts,
• Shies away from indefinite street mobilization,
• Continues participating in elections it claims are rigged.

This contradiction renders its allegations politically impotent.

Rahul Gandhi’s survival as a national leader is not due to political effectiveness, but dynastic legacy. Any non-dynastic opposition politician with such a record of electoral failure, strategic indecision, and rhetorical substitution for action would have been politically extinct long ago.

Foreign Seminars vs Street Politics

India’s electoral crisis cannot be resolved in Berlin, London, or New York seminar rooms. It will not be addressed through TED-style lectures on democracy, nor by impressing foreign scholars with moral arguments.

Authoritarian regimes are not dismantled by speeches. They are dismantled by sustained domestic pressure.

If Rahul Gandhi truly believes that elections are compromised, the only logical steps are:

• Boycott EVM-based elections,
• Demand 100% ballot-paper voting or full public VVPAT verification,
• Lead continuous, nationwide street protests,
• Force the regime into a political crisis it cannot manage through narrative control.

Anything short of this is not resistance—it is performance.

The Enduring Reality: EVMs Win, Not Rhetoric

The BJP does not win elections because Rahul Gandhi speaks abroad or because institutions are imperfect. It wins because the vote-counting process itself is opaque and non-verifiable, allowing outcomes to be managed irrespective of public sentiment.

Until this foundation is dismantled, the rest of the debate is ornamental.

Rahul Gandhi may continue to speak about democracy in foreign capitals. The BJP may continue to accuse him of defaming India. Indian voters may continue to suffer under poverty, unemployment, and social polarization.

And elections, conducted through unverifiable machines, will continue to produce predictable winners.

That is the Smokescreen. And EVMs are its core.

By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of a humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.