BJP-EC will 'steal your voter ID first, then ration card, land': Rahul warns Bihar voters amid SIR row
The 16-day, 3,000-km Yatra has drawn large crowds, with people lining the roads and cheering. Hundreds of youths were seen taking selfies with the Congress leader.
With frequent and unscheduled stops, the Yatra has been running behind schedule as Rahul insists on meeting as many people as possible. Some women expressed disappointment at not being able to get close to him because of the heavy rush.
'I wanted to take a selfie with Rahul Gandhi. But sorry to say that I could not do so because of huge rush during the Yatra, which crossed Nawada on Tuesday. I don't know whether I will get an opportunity next time to see him from close and have a selfie with him,' said Sangeeta Kumari, 21, an undergraduate student of Nawada.
Her cousin Raj Kishore, 24, a UPSC aspirant, was more fortunate.
'I had to jostle with supporters and workers of the Congress party to reach close to the leader. His security personnel did not allow anybody to reach close to him. But I somehow managed to click a photo with him,' he told this reporter.
Nawada town was draped in the flags of INDIA bloc partners as a show of solidarity. Rahul was accompanied by Tejashwi Prasad Yadav of the RJD, CPI-ML leader Dipankar Bhattacharya, VIP chief Mukesh Sahani and other senior leaders. At some places, residents watched from rooftops of multi-storey buildings.
During a stopover in Nawada, Rahul invited Subodh Kumar, a member of the crowd, to speak. Kumar said his name had been deleted from the voter list despite voting in last year's parliamentary elections and serving as a polling agent.
Rahul told the gathering that there were lakhs of others like Subodh whose names had been struck off the rolls. He alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party had 'entered into a partnership with the Election Commission of India to steal the votes of the people of Bihar.'
'You agree that they are stealing your votes… does Bihar agree?' he asked, as the crowd responded with a resounding 'yes.'
He went on to accuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the Election Commissioners of being complicit in the conspiracy. But, he asserted: 'We—myself, Tejashwi, and other INDIA bloc leaders—will not let them steal even a single vote from Bihar.'
Rahul said the Voter Adhikar Yatra was being taken out precisely for this reason, citing examples of Maharashtra, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, where he alleged the BJP, 'in collusion with the Election Commission of India,' had stolen elections. He assured people that the INDIA bloc would not allow that to happen in Bihar.
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