Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday attacked the BJP-ruled Centre, accusing them of enacting laws by by-passing democratic processes and enforcing them on the people against their will.

The Congress leader also alleged that while Prime Minister Narendra Modi was claiming to fight for the rights of women, his government was protecting rapists.

She further claimed that policies are made for the benefit of the PM's "monopolist friends" while the masses are pushed to unemployment and poverty.

Gandhi also said that "the Prime Minister's men" "haughtily" speak of changing the Constitution of India that was "written with the blood of our freedom fighters and martyrs".

"They treat the Constitution of India as an instrument of their own greed and ambition, as if it is a piece of paper," she alleged while speaking at a poll rally in Chalakudy Lok Sabha seat seeking votes for Congress candidate Benny Behanan.

She said that when she speaks of the founding principles of India being on the brink of destruction, she is told by some that a new India is being created.

"This new India that is being told to us is one where force asserts itself over righteousness and laws are enacted by by-passing the democratic process and enforced upon the people against their will," she said.

She alleged that in this new India, "those in power tell women what to wear, they propagate laws that demand women’s movements to be registered with the police, and they claim the right to decide whom women can love and whom they can marry.

"The government protects rapists and defends the oppressors and abusers of women, they vilify victims of heinous crimes using the entire strength of their administrations to question the characters of victims of abuse." Gandhi further alleged that as prices of basic commodities rise and the common citizen struggles to support his family, "we are fed false figures, and we are told to celebrate our booming economy".

Referring to the electoral bonds, she termed them as a form of "extortion" and alleged that the government agencies, meant to protect the law, were being "turned into unlawful extornists" and also used to silence voices of dissent.

"In this new nation institutions are brought to their knees, the judiciary is bullied and those entrusted with the protection of our freedoms are made to fall silent," she further alleged.

Gandhi also accused the Centre of being silent on the protests in Ladakh over the alleged Chinese encroachment there and that voices of the farmers were heard only when the elections were approaching.

"In this new nation, voices of dissent are silenced. The government harasses, accuses and imprisons those who dare to speak against it," she alleged.

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