On a day when Rahul Gandhi accused the Election Commission (EC) of mass voter deletion, Union Home Minister Amit Shah mounted an attack on the Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition, describing his Vote Adhikar Yatra in Bihar, where elections are around the corner, as a move to “protect infiltrators”. Gandhi was also targeted by Shah’s party colleague Anupam Thakur who accused him of “trying to destabilise” Indian democracy by questioning the EC.
The remarks by Shah and Thakur came days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Congress-led Opposition of “shielding infiltrators”. The BJP leadership’s reference to infiltrators comes against the backdrop of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral list in Bihar.
Shah claimed that picking candidates from the Opposition’s Mahagathbandhan would lead to “every Bihar home having illegal immigrants”. Thakur accused Gandhi of seeking to create a Bangladesh and Nepal-like situation by raising questions against Constitutional institutions, such as EC.
Speaking at Dehri, Shah said: “Every time, they (Opposition) try to run a false narrative. What was the topic of the recent yatra of Rahul Gandhi?” When the audience said “votechori” (vote theft)”, Shah responded: “It was not votechori… It was not about bringing quality education, employment, 24-hour electricity or a road to each corner of Bihar. The topic of the yatra was to protect infiltrators who have come from Bangladesh… Rahul Gandhi’s yatra was a ghuspethiya bachao (protect infiltrators) yatra.”
The Union Minister also sought to know from Gandhi and RJD leader Lalu Prasad if “illegal immigrants should have the right to vote”. “Should they get free ration, jobs, houses, up to Rs 5 lakh for treatment? Instead of giving jobs to our youth, they want to give jobs to infiltrators,” he said.
Shah then took a personal dig at Gandhi, saying Modi had not taken leave for “a single day for the last 24 years, first as Gujarat CM and now as the country’s PM”. “But there are people who go on vacation to foreign countries after six months. You must know whom I am talking about,” he said.
Shah also asked the audience to disregard the Opposition’s claims that the NDA would take away quotas for SC/ST and EBC.
The location of Shah’s rallies were significant because the BJP-led NDA, which had won 39 of 40 Lok Sabha seats in this belt in 2019, had suffered losses last year with only 30 seats. Shah also met Bihar Chief Minister and JDU leader Nitish Kumar in Patna earlier in the day with seat-sharing talks to be held soon.
In Delhi, meanwhile, Thakur sought to know why Gandhi had refused to submit an affidavit detailing his allegations against the EC and alleged that his politics hinged on “creating chaos and playing the victim card”.
“It has become a habit of Rahul Gandhi to make incorrect and baseless allegations. And after levelling these accusations, apologising and being rebuked by courts has become his job,” Thakur said.
“Sling mud and run away — there are many instances of his hit-and-run. He was going to detonate a hydrogen bomb in today’s press conference, but had to make do with a phuljhadi, which too went bust. What has happened to him?” he asked, referring to an earlier announcement by Gandhi.
The EC, Thakur said, had clarified that no deletion of votes can be done online by any member of the public. In 2023, “unsuccessful attempts” were made at deletion of names in the Aland Assembly constituency in Karnataka followed by the EC’s directions to file an FIR and investigation, he alleged.
Referring to Gandhi’s allegations of irregularities in Karnataka, Thakur said, “The EC has provided mobile numbers, IP addresses…what has the CID of Congress-ruled Karnataka done? I want to tell the people of the nation that, according to records, the Aland constituency was won by the Congress candidate in 2023 with 10,348 votes. So, Rahul Gandhi, did the Congress win through vote chori?”
Thakur said, “One thing Rahul Gandhi admitted today, and ended up blasting the hydrogen on himself, was that he was not here to defend democracy — so have preparations been made to destroy it instead? Levelling false allegations repeatedly against the EC, sometimes questioning EVMs, sometimes VVPATs, sometimes election results and sometimes, with assistance from his toolkit, raising questions on India’s democracy and its constitutional institutions — has this become a habit?”
Citing former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s ouster after she won an election through the “misuse of the government and officials”, and the postponement of Lok Sabha polls following the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, Thakur questioned the appointment of election commissioners at the time who later joined the Congress.
“Rama Devi ji, MS Gill, TM Seshan — which party appointed them as Election Commissioners and which party did they end up joining? They have misused the EC…but if the EC is working impartially, it is Rahul Gandhi’s attempt to attack the democracy of India again and again, to weaken it, to mislead the people and to try and create a situation in the country like in Bangladesh and Nepal,” he alleged.
Referring to Gandhi’s other allegations, Thakur cited the Karnataka High Court verdict cancelling the results of the Malur constituency in 2023 and asked whether the Congress had won the seat at the time through misappropriation of votes. He also accused the Raebareli MP of seeking to reduce the value of the votes of those belonging to the SC/ST/OBC and minority backgrounds with his allegations.
