New Delhi: In his first remarks on the ongoing protests for the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar and scrapping of SIR, Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday lashed out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and the opposition, saying they should be prepared once again for a “crushing defeat” in 2029 as people of the country are with the BJP, NDA and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In a hard-hitting statement, Shah also said that the kind of “negative politics” the Congress has been engaged in will not benefit it as it needs to connect with the public and cited the opposition party’s dismal performance in the recent bypolls and local body elections in several states.
“Ever since you became the principal leader of the Congress, and later its president, and now the Leader of the Opposition, the Congress party has continuously lost elections,” he said.
“You need to engage in introspection. You cannot win the trust of the country’s people through fabricated media events and echoes of lies,” he said, adding that the Congress is on a losing spree for decades now.
“I want to ask Shri Rahul Gandhi ji directly: Is this the result of the SIR? The SIR started only after 2024,” Shah said.
Criticising Gandhi, the Home Minister said people of India know his plans of “getting infiltrators registered as voters”.
“I want to tell Shri Rahul ji and his associates to prepare themselves once again for a crushing defeat in 2029. In the 2029 general elections, the NDA is going to win with a resounding majority, and the Congress is going to face defeat for the fourth consecutive time.
“The people of this country are with Narendra Modi ji, with the BJP, with the NDA. You cannot deny this truth,” he told reporters here.
Shah’s remarks come amid ongoing agitation by opposition parties and the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) this month on the SIR issue.
On Monday, the raging protests over the “vote theft” charge reached the Supreme Court’s doorstep. Opposition stalwarts, joined by activists and civil society members, undertook a “March for Democracy” on a heavily barricaded route and filed a joint petition against SIR and alleged poll irregularities in a major show of strength in the national capital.
A big crowd carrying flags and posters descended on central Delhi’s Connaught Place, with Leaders of Opposition (LoPs) in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, CPI’s D Raja, CPI-M leader M A Baby, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, besides NCP-SCP leader Supriya Sule, among those joining the march.
Gandhi also hosted INDIA bloc leaders on Tuesday for tea at his home. After the meeting, the opposition bloc vowed to continue the resistance and take the fight on “vote chori” to its logical conclusion.
The Home Minister said a gathering of the cadres of 14 political parties and assembling a crowd of 8,000 in a one-and-a-half-kilometre area does not make Gandhi the voice of the nation.
“My request to the Congress party is that the voice of the nation is also in the fields and farms, in the villages, in distant hills, in forests, and along riverbanks. You have no reach there.
“In many states of the country– be it Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu– the public has rejected and defeated the Congress party,” he said.
Listing the defeats suffered by the Congress party, the senior BJP leader said that in the by-elections of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry, the Congress did not win a single seat and in the bypolls to the Nagaon (Assam) Lok Sabha seat, the BJP candidate won by 1,42,000 votes and snatched the seat held by the Congress.
He said in the byelection to the Nandigram assembly seat in West Bengal, the BJP candidate won with 76 per cent of the votes and a massive lead of 1,22,000 votes.
“Will you dismiss all these by calling it our defeat? You should engage in introspection. In a very large state where you were always in power, you have not been able to win a single election for 41 years. This is a matter of profound introspection for you,” he said.
Shah said recently, by-elections were held in three states — West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
“In Raiganj in West Bengal, the BJP won by more than 75,000 votes, snatching this seat from the Trinamool Congress. In Puducherry, our NDA ally AINRC’s candidate won by 8,482 votes’ an NDA candidate.
“The Congress received only 22 per cent of the votes. In Rajasthan too, in the local body elections, the BJP has achieved a resounding victory,” he said.
Referring to the results of the elections to the municipal bodies in Gujarat, the home minister said the BJP has control of 90 per cent of municipal corporations, 66 per cent of municipal councils and in municipalities, 65 per cent of seats were won by the BJP.
“These elections are a lesson for Rahul Gandhi. And in Rajasthan, the Aam Aadmi Party forfeited its security deposit in more than 85 per cent of the wards,” he said.
Shah said elections were held for three municipalities and municipal corporations in Gujarat and out of a total of 104 seats across two municipalities and one municipal corporation, the BJP has achieved a resounding victory on 90 seats.
In the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation, which falls within Shah’s Lok Sabha constituency, the BJP won 38 out of 44 seats. The Aam Aadmi Party contested in 32 seats and the party lost and forfeited in all 32 seats.
“This overwhelming victory in Gujarat is a reflection of the voters’ mood in Gujarat, showing that the voters of India and Gujarat still stand like a rock beside Narendra Modi. In the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation, the BJP has registered a 10 per cent increase in votes compared to the last election.
“I want to make this clear, especially I wish to convey it to Rahul Gandhi, that even after 41 years, the Congress has not been able to win a single election there (Gujarat).
“Their last victory was 41 years ago in 1985, and since then they have faced continuous defeats in Gujarat. I also want to ask Rahul ji, is this the result of the SIR? This was due to the popularity of the BJP and the popularity of Modi ji,” he said.
Shah also referred to the village committee elections in Tripura, where also the BJP won significantly with a vote share of 77.5 per cent.
INDIA bloc says resistance against ‘vote theft’to continue
New Delhi: The opposition INDIA bloc on Tuesday vowed to fight unitedly for the “restoration of democracy” in the country and bring to justice those responsible for “vote chori”, with senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi asserting that political resistance would continue.
The opposition leaders along with civil society members got together at Gandhi’s residence to discuss the future strategy of their protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and “vote chori”. They also discussed the denotification of Jantar Mantar as a designated site for holding protests, with Gandhi saying “we are going to challenge the decision”.
Opposition leaders have already taken to the streets through a series of protests and have knocked at the doors of President Droupadi Murmu and the Supreme Court of India by filing a joint petition against alleged irregularities in electoral rolls.
Gandhi stressed that irrespective of the role institutions play, political and people’s resistance will continue and triumph. The assertions were made after INDIA bloc leaders and MPs of 17 parties, some members of the civil society and student organisations attended a gathering over tea hosted by Gandhi at his 5, Sunehri Bagh Road residence.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and several opposition leaders, including Tejashwi Yadav and Manoj Jha of the RJD, Mahua Maji (JMM), Harendra Malik, Anand Bhadauria and Mohibullah Nadvi (SP), M A Baby (CPI-M), D Raja and P Sandosh Kumar (CPI), AISA chief Neha Bora, Dipankar Bhattacharya (CPI-ML), Sagarika Ghose and Mahua Moitra (TMC), were among those in attendance. Civil society members Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav attended the event as well.
