Hyderabad: Former union minister Salman Khurshid and deputy chief minister Bhatti Vikramarka on Wednesday said Bharat Summit-2, scheduled to be held in Hyderabad on Nov 13 and 14, would provide a global platform for discussions on political, social and economic issues, along the lines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.Addressing the media at HITEX, Khurshid and Bhatti said more than 1,000 delegates from over 70 countries, including elected representatives, policymakers, intellectuals and prominent personalities from various fields, were expected to participate in the summit.The deputy CM said the primary objective of the summit was to safeguard democracy, promote non-violence and uphold the principle of non-alignment amid growing violence, hatred and divisive politics across the world. “Telangana govt, under the leadership of chief minister A Revanth Reddy, was organising the event to bring democrats, liberals and progressive thinkers from across the world onto a common platform,” he said.Emphasising the importance of democratic institutions, Bhatti said the opposition was as essential to a parliamentary democracy as the ruling party. Political opponents should be treated as rivals with different ideologies, not as enemies. Attempts to eliminate opposition parties and their leadership were contrary to the spirit of democracy, he said.He added that the Congress firmly believed in protecting democratic values and had invited political parties and their leaders to participate in the summit to discuss issues concerning democracy. On voting rights, Bhatti said protecting every eligible citizen’s right to vote was a fundamental responsibility of govt and Election Commission. The Congress opposed attempts to deprive eligible voters of their constitutional rights in the name of the SIR process.He said the Congress was fighting not merely for the voting rights of its party members and workers but for every citizen who faced the risk of losing the right to vote. The priority should be to ensure that every eligible citizen remained on the electoral rolls rather than remove large numbers of voters, he added.IT and industries minister D Sridhar Babu said the summit was intended to discuss solutions to global challenges and was not being organised for any political purpose. Rejecting BJP leaders’ claims that the event was aimed at relaunching Rahul Gandhi, he said the Congress leader was already a prominent national and international figure. Discussions at the summit would cover the economy, youth, technology and issues raised by Gen Z, besides the SIR process and its implications for democracy.
