Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Monday rejected Union minister Kiren Rijiju's comparison of India's opposition protests with unrest in Bangladesh and France, saying the demand is for free and fair elections rather than a change of government.

Rijiju, the parliamentary affairs minister, posted a video montage on X on Saturday showing opposition figures using the phrase "regime change", and wrote: "India is not Bangladesh." He said Indian youth would build the country, not destroy it.

The exchange comes amid protests over the Special Intensive Revision of India's electoral rolls. Opposition parties say more than 13 crore names have been dropped from the rolls; the Election Commission says it is removing duplicate and ineligible entries and denies wrongdoing.

Speaking in Thiruvananthapuram, Tharoor said: "I think that India is not Bangladesh and India is not France. I don't see these analogies as particularly relevant." He said the opposition would never condone violence such as the burning of buses and police stations in France, and believed only in peaceful protest.

He said there was "no point distorting a phrase like regime change", adding: "What we are calling for is free and fair elections." He described the issue as constitutional and said it was not an attempt to topple the government.

Tharoor said his criticism was aimed at how the Election Commission is conducting itself, not at the institution. "Democracy is not a gift of anybody. We, the ordinary citizens of India, are the custodians of it," he said.

Rijiju's remark referred to Bangladesh's 2024 uprising, which BJP leaders have repeatedly invoked during the row. Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted as prime minister, and her son Sajeeb Wazed have separately alleged foreign involvement in her removal.