Rahul Gandhi tells UK meeting that freedom of opposition is eroded in India

The leading Indian politician, on a 10-day tour of Britain, addressed Chatham House

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi's visit to the UK's parliament attracted high levels of interest from the Indian diaspora in Britain. AFP

Rahul Gandhi has defended his walk across India to spearhead Congress Party opposition to the Indian government's "stifling" of major issues in parliament at a gathering at Chatham House in London.

The 4,000km 150-day walk in January set out a different agenda to that promoted by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. "It placed on the table a different narrative of India," he told the meeting. "Not an angry, aggressive, violent narrative, which is currently deployed by the BJP, but a peace loving, almost Gandhian non-violent, open, accepting narrative and I think that was the biggest success of the walk.

"It clearly placed on the table a different vision of the country. Along the way, I learned many, many things."

Earlier he used a speech in the UK's parliament to lambast Narendra Modi’s government, claiming there is no space for free speech in India’s parliament.

The scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty told a room packed with British MPs and members of the public that opposition leaders in New Delhi are not allowed to voice concerns about crucial issues. He cited taxes and demonetisation as examples.

Mr Gandhi’s appearance before the Indo-British All Party Parliamentary Group in the Grand Committee Room of the Palace of Westminster drew a huge amount of interest. Members of the public, holding visitor day passes, queued outside the room before his address.

He said two different versions of how the world should develop were offered by Congress and BJP.

"When we walked, we heard basically four things -- unemployment, the price rises, inequality and violence against women", he told the Chatham House event. "Those are the broad themes that came up.

He said he worried that the country's institutional architecture was being dismantled by the current government. "If you really look at the BJP and see what's the one big thing that they've done, it's huge concentration of power in the Prime Minister's office", he said.

The BJP, led by Mr Modi, responded by accusing Mr Gandhi of denigrating India on foreign soil, according to a report by India Today. The party reportedly said he had “crossed the limit of insulting India”.

Pavan Kumar Varma, a former member of India’s parliament, told the TV station: “When a leading politician washes the internal dirty linen of Indian politics abroad, my personal view is that a certain nuance and sophistication is required”.

Mr Gandhi, 52, is on a 10-day tour of the UK.

His visit to the Houses of Parliament also included lunch with David Lammy, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary.

Mr Gandhi’s great-grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru, was India’s first and longest-serving prime minister. His grandmother, Indira Gandhi, served as the country’s first female prime minister. His father, Rajiv Gandhi, was India’s youngest prime minister.