Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 1: The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Sunday declared the Narendra Modi government at the Centre as “illegal” having captured power with “vote theft” and asserted that the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, who had helped the BJP government to assume power illegally would “have to go” and would eventually be “jailed” because of his wrong doings.
Alleging that votes were stolen in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections through the electronic voting machines (EVMs) and manipulation of voter lists, Mr Gandhi said the perpetrator of the crime of vote theft Gyanesh Kumar was “unable to sleep” and maintained that Mr Modi would not have elected the PM and Mr Amit Shah the union home minister but for the manipulation of votes by Mr Kumar.
Addressing the INDIA bloc rally at the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi demanding the ouster of Mr Kumar, Mr Gandhi said, the “theft of votes is no ordinary theft. This is the theft of every voice of India. This is called treason. Without Gyanesh Kumar, neither would Narendra Modi have become Prime Minister nor Amit Shah the Home Minister,” he argued, calling the last Lok Sabha polls illegal.
“Votes were stolen in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Votes were stolen through EVMs and by tampering with the voter list,” he said. “After the 2024 elections, 15 per cent of voters were removed. In 2024, there was a 3 per cent difference between us (INDIA bloc) and the (BJP-led) NDA. The 2024 election was illegal,” he argued. He said the data of the Election Commission “is saying this.”
“Gyanesh Kumar has committed the biggest crime, trying to silence the voice and soul of the nation. But we are not people of hatred or enmity. We are people of love. We want to bring love and brotherhood back to this country. This protest does not belong to any single party or leader. This is a united protest. This is India’s protest, India’s voice,” he emphasised.
Besides the top Congress leaders including the former party president Sonia Gandhi, the Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, the former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, and a large number of other opposition leaders attended the rally.
Earlier, thousands of protesters from across the country, representing political parties, youth organisations, women’s groups and farmers’ bodies, had gathered at Minto Road in Delhi on Sunday before ahead of the INDIA bloc rally at Ramlila Maidan, seeking to strengthen the campaign against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Ahead of the arrival of Opposition leaders, protesters raised slogans of “vote chori” and demanded the resignation of the CEC and the rollback of the SIR exercise.
Among those assembling at Minto Road were members of the Indian Youth Congress, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, National Students’ Union of India, Krantikari Yuva Sangathan and the All India Students’ Federation, among other groups. The gathering also drew citizens (independent of parties) who said the coming together of various parties and the public had given the protests greater strength after several demonstrations against the SIR in recent weeks.
Mr Gandhi said ‘vote chori’ has been going on for a while India, claiming the results were tampered in the assembly elections Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Karnataka. Criticising the nationwide Special Intensive Revision (SIR) drive, Rahul said votes were stolen from EVMs and many names were deleted from electoral rolls.
Mr Gandhi also accused the BJP’s ideological parent body RSS of taking control of the country’s institutions, “from education to investigative agencies.” “Because of this, farmers, labourers and youth do not get their rights,” Gandhi said.
Invoking Hindu mythology to describe the India he envisioned, Gandhi said, “Anyone can join ‘Shiv ji ki baraat’ (Lord Shiva’s wedding procession). No one is stopped. We want such an India.” “We will not let democracy end. We will not let the Constitution be destroyed,” he said. “No matter how much money you have, you are not bigger than the Constitution. The Constitution is bigger than you,” he added, accusing the BJP of using money to dominate poll processes and institutions.
Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge, speaking before him, accused the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh of coming to power through what he termed “vote theft”, and called for PM Narendra Modi’s ouster from office.
“Who votes for them? They choose themselves! The public does not elect them. The current central government, as well as the governments in Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, are all governments of vote theft. We must remove these thieves,” Kharge said. “Only if Modi goes will democracy survive,” he added.
Addressing the gathering, Akhilesh Yadav said, “Today, Ramlila Maidan has turned into the Haldighati of democracy.” He predicted that the BJP and its allies would be voted out of Uttar Pradesh in 2027, saying, “Those who once came from UP will be driven out from UP itself.”
Akhilesh also accused the BJP of plotting conspiracies because it cannot win public support, alleging that it had chosen to work through the Election Commission. Referring to the BJP’s position in Kashi, he said, “The people of Kashi have given them a double zero.”
“While the Ramlila Maidan is traditionally meant for staging the Ramayana, today we have organised a ‘Mahabharata’ for those who steal votes,” RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said. Referring to Shakuni’s role in the epic, he said, “The Mahabharata began not on a battlefield, but with a game of dice. And now that Shakuni is playing his game, we are compelled to fight the battle…”
The rally was estimated to have been attended by about 1.5 lakh people. Top Opposition leaders and supporters from across the country gathered at the venue for the INDIA bloc’s ‘Chalo Delhi’ protest march, raising concerns over the SIR exercise and alleged irregularities in electoral rolls. The march began from the Minto Road-Connaught Place junction and proceeded towards Ramlila Maidan. The gathering followed a public “impeachment” programme against the CEC held in the national capital on October 31.
Meanwhile, the BJP MP Sambit Patra accused Rahul Gandhi of showing insensitivity by holding the INDIA bloc’s Ramlila Maidan rally on November 1, the anniversary of the 1984 anti-Sikh violence that followed the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Patra claimed around 5,000 Sikhs were killed and said survivors had repeatedly appealed to Gandhi to postpone the rally, but he refused. He also invoked former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s controversial remark, “When a big tree falls, the earth shakes,” accusing the Congress of seeking to bring down another “big tree” — India’s democracy and Constitution.
The Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in Chandigarh, “Lying, spreading chaos, propagating negativity, obstructing the functioning of Parliament, and taking parliamentary issues to the streets to create a ruckus—if this has been your nature, then get ready to spend another five years in the opposition.”