‘If you win, all is good, if you lose, all is bad': BJP ministers accuse Rahul Gandhi, INDIA bloc of ‘shaming democracy'
Union ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Dharmendra Pradhan accused the Opposition, and especially Gandhi, of 'speaking the language of anti-national' forces aiming to 'uproot democracy' from the country. Gandhi's 'vote-theft' allegations and continuing protests over the SIR lack direction and that his politics is not 'issue and policy-based', they said.
The Delhi Police detained Opposition MPs, including Gandhi, Monday as they took out a march from Parliament House to the Election Commission of India (ECI) headquarters to protest against the Bihar SIR. Union Agriculture Minister Chouhan alleged that Rahul Gandhi and the Opposition are defaming democracy 'under pressure from anti-national forces'.
'First, they shamed the country, the Election Commission, and even the Supreme Court. They shamed the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), played with respect for the armed forces. They questioned the valour of the armed forces. They are destroying democracy. They are playing with the honour of Constitutional institutions. They want to spread anarchy,' Chouhan said.
'Rahul Gandhi is lying again and again. He lied on Operation Sindoor – but lost his voice after the army provided proof. They raised questions on EVMs, saying they lost the elections because of EVMs. When they were asked for proof, it was not provided. After the Supreme Court pulled him up, he became Rann-chor-das (a deserter). Now the EVM has been left behind, and they have come to the SIR, defaming the voter list,' he added.
Taking on the senior Congress leader as well as the larger INDIA bloc, Chouhan asked whether non-BJP governments across several states and the personal electoral victories of the Opposition alliance's leaders were a result of the same alleged issues in the electoral process.
The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister also sought to 'caution the people of India' against what he alleged was a large-scale 'conspiracy to destabilise the country', demanding why Gandhi was not willing to give an affidavit to the ECI regarding his allegations.
'I want to ask Rahul Gandhi ji and the leaders of the INDI alliance – did the Congress win in Karnataka due to issues in the voter list? Did the Congress win in Telangana due to malpractices by the Election Commission?…in Himachal Pradesh due to mistakes and malpractices of the Election Commission and the voter list? Did the DMK…win in Tamil Nadu due to issues in the voter list? In Jharkhand, has the Hemant Soren-led INDI alliance government been formed due to issues with the voter list?' he asked.
'Rahul ji, did you yourself win due to issues with the voter list…and Priyanka ji too? Did (Samajwadi Party president) Akhilesh (Yadav) ji also win due to issues with the voter list? You level allegations and run away? The Election Commission is asking you for an affidavit… You do not want to… You are playing with the honour of the nation. You are committing the sin of weakening the nation and democracy by shaming them. If you win, all is well; if you lose, all is bad? I want to caution the people of the country – be wary of their (the Opposition's) conspiracies,' he added.
Congress and Opposition left with only 'votebank politics': Dharmendra Pradhan
Pradhan, addressing a press conference at the party's national headquarters, said that Gandhi, 'who cites the Constitution on a daily basis' was the sole political figure in the country engaging in 'anti-India' deeds since the Congress's 'lack of direction has become its problem'.
'The SIR is not happening for the first time; in every state, at the national level, the EC has a rule-based process – the purification of the electoral rolls…After Independence, it has had a continuous process (in this regard). Earlier, the Congress used to tell lies on the EVM; sometimes they rake up Maharashtra, sometimes Haryana, to make a new mountain of lies. (Due to poll losses) in 2014, 2019 and 2024 especially, the Congress has reached a level of bankruptcy due to continuous losses,' Pradhan alleged.
'There is no clear issue they have in hand, or a policy…(so) they are making a political issue out of this…(they) lied about Rafale jet planes, then they helped China by raising questions related to India's sovereignty regarding which the judiciary, for the first time in Independent India, made such harsh remarks about a politician…They do not have any public honour left in a democracy. With anarchy slowly combining with arrogance, this is a deliberate strategy to trigger destabilisation in the country. You will win elections, then everything is fine. If you lose…you will remember the issues with the system,' he added.
Accusing Gandhi of having 'no basic knowledge about technology, the Election Commission's procedure or the country', Pradhan alleged that the Congress and the Opposition were left with only 'votebank politics' and wanted to 'get by on the votes of infiltrators whom they have made voters'.
'When the Election Commission, from a Constitutional and impartial point of view, tells them the facts, they talk about destroying the Election Commission :'we will drop an atom bomb and the Election Commission will disintegrate'. This is the language used by our rival nations. Big powers which want to uproot democracy from a democratic Bharat, they use the language that the Leader of Opposition of the country does,' he alleged.
'I want to appeal to them to do issue-based politics; just triggering fear in the hearts of infiltrators, or in those of a particular section (of society), you will not be able to break the democratic structure of this country by taking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, the decision of the people of the country or its Constitutional system,' he added.
Jatin Anand is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express. Over the last 15 years, he has covered bureaucracy & politics, crime, traffic & intelligence, the Election Commission of India & Urban Development among other beats. He is an English (Literature) graduate from Zakir Husain Delhi College, DU & specialised in Print at the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), Chennai. He tweets @jatinpaul ... Read More
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Advocate Prashant Bhushan, also appearing for the NGO, alleged the EC played 'mischief' and removed the search feature from the draft roll and the list of 65 lakh people whose names were deleted for being dead, migrated or shifted to other constituencies. 'This happened just a day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi did a press conference pointing out that over lakh people(in an Assembly segment in a Lok Sabha constituency in Bengaluru) were fake voters,' he added, arguing that an ordinary person was denied the right to search their name on the draft roll whether dead or alive or migrated to another place. Justice Kant said he was unaware of any such press conference but when it comes to the Registration of Electors Rule of 1960, Section 10 mandates the EC to publish a copy of the draft rolls at the office in the constituency. 'They have to publish the draft rolls at the office in the constituency. That's a minimum threshold under the law. However, we would have liked it if it was published on the website for wider publicity,' Justice Bagchi said. Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the EC, said the petitioners claimed the rural population of Bihar was not tech savvy and now they were talking about the inability of the same people in searching online. On August 12, the top court said inclusion and exclusion of citizens or non-citizens from the electoral rolls was within the remit of the Election Commission and backed its stand to not accept Aadhaar and voter cards as conclusive proof of citizenship in the SIR of voters' list in Bihar. (Only the headline has been reworked by staff. Copy comes from an agency feed)
