The Congress on Monday rejected the BJP's claim that the INDIA bloc's November 1 rally in the capital cost traders business, saying markets across Delhi stayed busy and shops carried on as usual during the gathering. The party said the warnings of disruption had not come true.
Jairam Ramesh, the Congress's general secretary in charge of communications, shared a media report on X and, in a Hindi post on the same platform, called the BJP's allegations baseless. He accused the ruling party of spreading misinformation to weaken the mega-rally and to discourage people from travelling to Delhi. In West Delhi, BJP workers held a protest against the INDIA bloc event, and the party described Rahul Gandhi's rally as a 'flop show'.
Ramesh said the BJP had tried to create the impression that the rally would halt commercial activity and force markets to shut. That argument, he said, ignored the obvious: travellers reaching the city from other states would shop as well, helping every business owner in Delhi directly or indirectly.
He said people answered Rahul Gandhi's appeal and shopped in the city's markets, that wholesale markets in Old Delhi opened and 'business boomed', and that small shopkeepers and street vendors also gained. He thanked traders, shopkeepers and residents for backing the protest and the local economy, adding that fear and propaganda could not silence democratic expression.
The Congress leader alleged that the purpose of what he called a false and irrational campaign was to turn attention away from the opposition's allegations of vote theft and its demand for accountability from the Election Commission, to shield Gyanesh Kumar, and to keep crowds away from the rally.
He said the BJP and its 'jhansamantri' should know that people had watched such tactics for 12 years and would not fall for them again, and that the public would protect its right to vote, keep businesses running and demand accountability. He closed the post with the slogan 'Vote chor, gaddi chhod'.
On Saturday night, Rahul Gandhi had asked those travelling to Delhi for the opposition march and rally to do their Diwali shopping in the city and back local traders, saying the programme would not hurt business despite the BJP 'spreading rumours'.
On Sunday, the INDIA bloc demanded the BJP's removal over the 'vote chori' charge. Gandhi reportedly asserted that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar would be removed from his post and jailed for 'treason', and that neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor Home Minister Amit Shah would escape the law.
(With inputs from media reports)