BJP hits back at Rahul’s protest
Hitting back at the INDIA bloc protest led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the BJP on Tuesday accused the Opposition of fomenting anarchy and said the marchers are “venting their frustration” over their electoral defeats by levelling baseless allegations against the constitutional bodies to malign their image. The BJP said the Congress is re-launching Rahul Gandhi.
Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad slammed Rahul Gandhi, saying he is sitting in one of Delhi’s most sensitive areas and fomenting anarchy. He said that the bottom line is very clear —Rahul Gandhi, his party president, and others are demanding a return to ballot papers and this implies that since they cannot win elections using honest technology, they want to win through booth capturing. Prasad added that they want to prevent Dalits and the poor in villages from voting, perhaps by throwing ink into ballot boxes and then securing a victory. This has been their strategy for years, he said.
“We condemn this. You, along with several other parties, approached the Supreme Court. In its verdict on May 26, the Supreme Court explained in detail that the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) process is legally valid. Action was taken accordingly. Your own Home Minister in Kerala admitted that it was because of the SIR process that you were able to defeat the CPM. You lost in Bengal, winning only two seats. You lost in Bihar, winning only two seats. You lost in Haryana, Maharashtra, and Delhi. So, what exactly do you want? You are disrespecting the public mandate. You are asking for the cancellation of elections where the people have voted for a winner. Rahul Gandhi does not respect any institution, be it the Supreme Court, the Election Commission, the Army, or any other institution...Should the dead be allowed to vote?... I strongly condemn this entire conduct of Rahul Gandhi. He seeks anarchy,” he said.
Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that through this march, they are “venting their frustration” over their electoral defeats by levelling baseless allegations against the constitutional bodies to malign their image. “Friends in the opposition, the very system you are questioning is the one under which you won in Kerala. Was that victory illegitimate? You won in Karnataka. Was that victory illegitimate? You won in Himachal. Was that victory illegitimate? Opposition Governments were formed in Punjab and Jharkhand; were those victories illegitimate?” the senior BJP leader asked.
Speaking to reporters, Chouhan said accepting defeat is the fundamental spirit of democracy, and asked the Congress and its allies to “stop insulting democracy and maligning” democratic institutions. “If you question constitutional institutions, you will sin by plunging the country into the fires of anarchy. Do not sin plunging the nation into unrest and anarchy. The country and its people will never forgive you,” he added. Referring to the Special Intensive Revision, Chouhan underlined that a clean voter list is essential for a “pristine” democracy and asked the opposition parties why the electoral rolls should not be cleansed.
BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi disputed Congress’ claim that 13 crore voters had been deleted during the nationwide Special Intensive Revision (SIR), saying the figure cited by the Opposition referred to names removed from the draft electoral rolls and not final deletions. Citing Election Commission data, Trivedi said 2.8 crore people were dead, 6.3 crore had shifted, 1 crore were duplicate entries, and around 3 crore were not traceable. Taking a jibe at the Congress, Trivedi accused the party of seeking to shield fake voters. “I would like to ask Congress clearly. Who do they want to benefit by giving voting rights to the absent, shifted, dead and duplicate voters without any investigation? Does the Congress want to benefit someone by doing this?” the veteran BJP leader said.