Huge turnout at Ramlila Maidan for ‘vote chori’ rally

The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi came hard against the Modi Government at the Ramlila Maidan on Sunday and declared that the protection provided to the Election Commissioners by the Modi government by making a law that gives them immunity will be scrapped with retrospective effect. He specifically named Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the Election Commissioners Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, saying that the protection they enjoy right now will be withdrawn and they will be held to account.

The Congress mega rally witnessed a huge turnout as Congress workers from different parts of the country converged on the historic Ramlila Maidan to register their protest against vote chori, with the air reverberating with the slogans of ‘vote chor, gaddi chhod’.

Rahul Gandhi declared that eventually the Congress will throw away and defeat Modi and his BJP with truth and non-violence. He recalled RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s recent statement, wherein he had said that eventually it is power and not truth that matters. Gandhi noted that this was the ideology that was driving the BJP, as nothing else matters to them except power. But, he added, this country runs on the philosophy of Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram and Satyameva Jayate.

Gandhi said that despite raising serious questions backed by proof and evidence, the Election Commission had failed to respond to any of them. He cited instances from Haryana, claiming that the photograph of a Brazilian woman appeared 22 times in the voters’ list and that another woman’s photo was repeated nearly 200 times in a single polling booth. Addressing people from Haryana at the rally, he alleged that the election had been stolen from them through voter manipulation.

Rahul Gandhi further said that BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, had now realised that their alleged vote theft had been exposed, which had shaken their confidence. He also referred to what he described as Amit Shah’s trembling hands while responding to his questions during a Lok Sabha debate, adding that the BJP’s confidence and courage stem solely from power, which he claimed was secured by manipulating votes.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that the country will not be run by the BJP-RSS ideology or Manusmriti but by the Constitution, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said that there was ‘vote chori’ DNA in the BJP and that of truth and non-violence in the Congress.

Kharge said that the BJP and the RSS want to take the country back to the days of Manu and want to push the poor and downtrodden into slavery. He said this country can be run only by the Congress ideology that follows the Constitution and not that of Mohan Bhagwat, Golwalkar or Manusmriti.

Warning that the BJP was trying to gradually finish the Constitution, he alleged that they were trying to exploit and mislead people in the name of Hindutva. Criticising the BJP leaders for questioning Rahul Gandhi’s trip abroad after the Parliament session, Kharge pointed out that Modi does not attend Parliament even while being in the country. He pointed out that he had not answered a single question posed to him by Rahul in Parliament. 

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra mentioned that the confidence of the Prime Minister and other BJP leaders had gone down and they were visibly shaken, as they had found the ground beneath their feet slipping away. She said they were trying to trample upon constitutional institutions like the judiciary, media, Parliament and the Election Commission. She pointed out that the entire media was owned either by Adani or Ambani, both Modi’s friends. Those present on the occasion included Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Smt Sonia Gandhi, Congress general secretary in charge (organisation) K C Venugopal, senior party leaders, Chief Ministers, PCC presidents, CLP leaders, MPs and others.

"I challenge the BJP to contest polls on the ballot paper. They know they will never win," the Congress general secretary said. "You should not lose heart over losing Bihar, the entire country knows BJP wins through 'vote chori'," she said. According to the party leader, the Election Commission ignored the Rs 10,000 given to every woman in Bihar under the Model Code of Conduct. "If this is not 'vote chori', then what is?" Every stage of the electoral process raises suspicions, she claimed, and elections are not being conducted fairly. She attacked the Narendra Modi-led Centre, saying that all institutions in the nation are being forced to submit to the government.

Kharge skips son’s surgery for rally

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday said he skipped flying to Bengaluru to meet his son who underwent a complicated surgery so as not to miss Parliament and the “big rally” against “traitors” who are involved in ‘vote chori’.