Priyanka Gandhi Varma and Rahul Gandhi did not mince words. The Congress pair attacked the Union government directly after the brutal gang-rape and murder of a minor girl in Swaroop Nagar, a dense residential area in South Delhi. The sisters claimed the state has failed completely in its basic duty to protect its citizens.
"Delhi is no longer the capital," Priyanka stated, pointing to the systemic failure of law and order enforcement. She accused the central government, which controls Delhi's policing, of ignoring the rising tide of violence against women. Rahul Gandhi echoed the sentiment, demanding immediate accountability from the Home Ministry and the Delhi Police.
The incident in Swaroop Nagar has shattered a fragile political calm. The victim, a minor, was subjected to a gang-rape before being murdered—a crime that echoes the horrific 2012 Delhi gang-rape and the 2024 death of a 19-year-old in Dwarka. Residents in the area describe a palpable sense of fear, with many families restricting their daughters' movements after dark.
The BJP has yet to respond formally to the specific 'no longer the capital' remark, but party spokespersons have previously dismissed such rhetoric as political opportunism. With the Lok Sabha elections less than two years away, this incident is likely to become a central campaign issue for the Congress, framing the national government as negligent in a Union Territory it directly governs.
The Delhi Police have registered a case under the POCSO Act and IPC sections pertaining to gang-rape and murder. Investigators are working to trace the perpetrators, who are believed to have fled the scene. A special task force has been activated, but the political fallout is already outpacing the investigation.