BJP attacks Rahul Gandhi over SIR, Form 6 row; questions Congress's stand on voter revision
The BJP on Thursday slammed Rahul Gandhi for attacking the Election Commission and the government on the issue of SIR, saying the Congress leader is a "pre-eminent fraudster" and an "inauthentic politician" who relies on lies and misinformation to conduct his politics.
Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters here, senior party leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, "Rahul Gandhi is neither a protector of secularism, nor is he a protector of the Constitution. He is a protector of his own family interest."
Gandhi calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a "deshdrohi" was the "ultimate sign" of his "fake and inauthentic politics" designed to mislead people, the Keralam BJP president charged.
Gandhi on Thursday said the online version of Form 6, which is used for fresh voter registrations, was changed "illegally" and asked who at the Election Commission ordered Tata Consultancy Services to make the change and who at the company signed off on it.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh claimed that the change in Form 6 was orchestrated by "the PM-HM duo".
Hitting back, Chandrasekhar said, "Rahul Gandhi is a pre-eminent fraudster in Indian politics. Rahul Gandhi is an inauthentic politician who relies on lies and misinformation without any positive agenda to conduct his politics."
Gandhi has a pattern of creating stories and misinformation, he alleged.
"He is a living, breathing practitioner of the philosophy of Joseph Goebbels, who was Adolf Hitler’s propaganda minister," he said.
"Gandhi claimed that EVMs were systematically hacked. That was proved to be wrong. He said democracy is being stolen. That has been repeatedly proved to be wrong, especially when his party was winning elections," the BJP leader added.
Chandasekhar accused Gandhi of "hypocrisy and double standards" on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls.
"Rahul Gandhi says Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar is a BJP agent. He says the SIR process is against democracy while the sitting home minister of the Congress government in Keralam has publicly acknowledged how SIR was responsible for weeding out bogus voters from the state’s electoral rolls," the BJP leader said.
Gandhi's own party "recognises and accepts" that the SIR was important to ensure the integrity of the electoral rolls and also to ensure that elections are free and fair, he said.
"The chief election officer, who conducted the SIR in Keralam, is PS (private secretary) to the chief minister,” the BJP leader said.
"Should the BJP say that he is an agent of the Congress? We will not. We know what lines should be crossed and what lines should not be crossed in a democracy. But Rahul Gandhi does not have such compulsion," he added.
Chandrasekhar said Gandhi claims that the country's youth is dissatisfied with the Modi government and positions himself as a "messiah and protector" of Indian youth and their rights.
"But he omits to tell you that when the Congress went out of power (at the centre) in 2014, it left a labour force where over 70 per cent of youth did not have education or skills.
"He omits to tell you that the highest unemployment in the country today is in Keralam governed by the Congress. He omits to tell you that in the last twelve years (of the Modi government) youth have seen in this country unprecedented opportunities -- opportunities for skilling and entrepreneurship.” the BJP leader added.
Chandrasekhar alleged Gandhi keeps making "baseless" allegations of corruption, hoping that "something sticks”.
"He talked about the Rafale scam, Pegasus, Justice Loya (cases). Everything went to the court system and everything was exposed as being a lie,” he said.
The BJP leader described Rahul Gandhi’s politics as "lie 100 per cent, falsehood 100 per cent and also being exposed 100 per cent".
