Rahul Gandhi Threatens of Dropping “Hydrogen Bomb” of Vote Chori, BJP Mocks at him

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Sept 1: The Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday claimed that his party would soon explode a “hydrogen bomb” of “vote chori” after which the Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be forced to hide his face, swiftly bringing in retaliation from the BJP attacking the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha as “irresponsible and hard to understand.”

Speaking at the concluding event of his 16-day ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ in Patna, Mr Gandhi said Bihar was a revolutionary State and it had given a message to the country. “I want to tell the BJP people. Have you heard of anything bigger than an atom bomb, it is a hydrogen bomb. BJP people, be ready, a hydrogen bomb is coming. People are soon going to find out the reality of vote chori,” Mr Gandhi said.

“In the coming time, I am guaranteeing you that after the hydrogen bomb (comes), Narendra Modi ji will not be able to show his face to the country,” the former Congress chief said.

The BJP hit back swiftly, condemning the Congress leader’s statement as “demeaning himself” and insulting the nation’s voters. The party also mocked claims Mr Gandhi’s rallies had been widely attended, alleging 20,000 ‘participants’ had been brought in from Uttar Pradesh’s Deoria.

Former Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters, “Whenever I listen to Rahul Gandhi, inside or outside Parliament, it takes time to understand what he is trying to say… How are the atom bomb and the hydrogen bomb related to elections? Rahul Gandhi is irresponsible.”

“We will not let them (BJP) murder the Constitution and that is why we took out a yatra. We got a tremendous response. People came out in large numbers and raised the slogan ‘vote chor gaddi chhor’,” Mr Gandhi said. He said votes were “stolen” in Maharashtra Assembly elections and then with evidence, his party showed how “vote chori” was done in Mahadevapura Assembly segment in Karnataka’s Bangalore central Lok Sabha Seat. “I want to tell the youth of Bihar, vote chori means ‘chori of rights, chori of democracy, chori of employment’. They will take away your ration card and other rights,” he alleged.

His remarks came after the INDIA bloc allies held a march marking the culmination of the ‘Vote Adhikar Yatra’ led by Gandhi and other Mahagathbandhan leaders that covered 1,300-km and passed through 110 assembly constituencies covering 25 of the 38 districts ahead of the upcoming State elections. The ‘Gandhi se Ambedkar’ march marking the culmination of the ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ was stopped midway by the police at the Dak Bungalow crossing where they addressed a gathering.

Mr Gandhi was joined by the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Vikassheel Insan Party chief Mukesh Sahani, CPI (ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby, CPI’s Annie Raja, TMC MP Yusuf Pathan, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, and other INDIA bloc leaders.

Several other leaders the Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin, and the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had joined the rally at different segments to demonstrate their solidarity. The chief ministers of the three Congress-ruled states, Siddaramaiah of Karnataka, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu of Himachal Pradesh and Revanth Reddy of Telangana had also participated in the rally.

The march in Patna started with the INDIA bloc leaders offering floral tributes at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the Gandhi Maidaan. The ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’, launched by Rahul Gandhi from Sasaram on August 17, was aimed at highlighting the alleged assault on people’s right vote by removing names from the electoral rolls in Bihar in the name of “Special Intensive Revision” (SIR) of voters’ roll.

The opposition has claimed the Election Commission’s ‘special intensive revision’ in Bihar – a re-verification to weed out illegally registered voters and others not eligible to vote in this year’s election – is, in fact, an exercise to disenfranchise over   65 lakh people believed to be the supporters of the INDIA bloc. A legal challenge to the voter list revision is also being heard by the Supreme Court.

Mocking at Mr Gandhi’s claims, Mr Prasad reacted with mirth: “Every time I hear Rahul Gandhi speak, I have to deploy many types of antenna.” “How are the atom bomb and the hydrogen bomb related to the elections? Why is Rahul Gandhi demeaning himself as the Leader of Opposition? The nation should understand, that Rahul Gandhi is irresponsible.”