Congress Rally Calls for “Removal of Modi Government,” BJP Terms it as “Move to Eliminate PM”

Rohit Kumar

NEW DELHI, Dec 14: The Congress leader and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Sunday gave a call for “removal of the Narendra Modi – RSS government” at the center and said his party stood for “satya (truth).”

Addressing the party’s ‘Vote Chor Gaddi Chhod’ rally at the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi, he launched a scathing attack on the Election Commission and mentioned the names of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi to allege that they were working for the BJP.

“The BJP-RSS people are engaged in efforts to finish off the Constitution. In the name of Hindutva, these people want to enslave the poor again. But we must remember that the Congress got Independence for the country, Modi-Shah were not even born at that time,” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said while addressing the rally.

The BJP, however, interpreted the call as an attempt to “eliminate” the Prime Minister. “The Congress’s real objective is to “eliminate” Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” the BJP said after visuals showed some Congress workers raising slogans against Mr Modi and stressing that his rule would come to an end.

“So the agenda is clear. It’s not about SIR. It is about Sanvidhan pe Vaar… In the name of SIR – they want to eliminate PM Modi? Recently, Rahul Gandhi threatened the ECI, too. So far, Congress has abused PM Modi 150 + times,” BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said in a post on X.

The Congress held the major rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan to step up its campaign against alleged vote fraud and the Special Intensive Revision of voter lists. The party’s workers and leaders from across the country reached Delhi to attend the mega rally. The party has collected around six crore signatures against alleged vote theft from every corner of the country, and will be presenting the same to the President of India.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told the media that the people “will not tolerate” this disrespect of their “beloved leader”. “I have not personally heard this slogan, but I will see through it carefully. If such slogans were indeed raised, it shows that Congress still fails to understand public sentiment. Whenever they have used abusive language against PM Modi or his family, the public has rejected them,” Patra said.

The Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Syed Nasir Hussain trashed the BJP’s allegations, terming them “fake news.”

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar asserted that the Congress party’s rally against alleged ‘vote chori’ (vote theft) in New Delhi was to protect every citizen’s right to vote. Accusing BJP government at the Center of restricting vehicles with Congress workers from entering Delhi to participate in the party’s mega rally, Shivakumar, who is also the Karnataka Congress chief, said about 3,500-4,000 party leaders and workers have come from the state to participate in the rally.

“We (state Congress) have made accommodation for 1,500 people (party workers and leaders), more than 2,000 people have made their own arrangements. They have come by flight and train. About 3,500-4,000 people have come. About 1.42 crore signatures have been gathered from the state (as part of its signature campaign),” Shivakumar said.

The Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge launched a scathing attack on the BJP, saying those indulging in “vote theft” were “gaddars” and need to be removed from power to save the voting right and the Constitution. He said it was the duty of all Indians to unitedly strengthen Congress ideology as only this party can save the country. He alleged that the RSS ideology would “finish the nation.” “The BJP people are” gaddars‘ (traitors) and ‘ dramabaaz‘(indulge in theatricals). They need to be removed from power,” Mr Kharge said.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said every step of the poll process arouses suspicion and asserted that the chief election commissioner and the two election commissioners must answer how they “conspired” to take away people’s voting rights. She names the CEC and the two commissioners and said the BJP would not be able to save them, as one day they would be forced to answer for “conspiring” to take away people’s vote.

“I challenge BJP to contest polls on ballot paper, they know they will never win,” Ms Gandhi said. “You should not lose heart over losing Bihar, entire country knows BJP wins through ‘vote theft’,” she added. Alleging that elections are not being conducted properly, Ms Gandhi said when we see every institution being crushed, all Indians should rise against it. “EC closing its eyes to Rs 10,000 being paid during election process; is this poll not ‘vote theft’? All institutions in country being made to bend before government.”