Congress holds rally in capital to reiterate 'vote chori' claim

NEW DELHI: Taking his months-long campaign of "vote chori" to its climax, Congress's Rahul Gandhi on Sunday led a packed Ramlila Maidan rally to raise the slogan of "vote chor, gaddi chhod", as he claimed that the Modi-led BJP is winning elections by stealing votes but "Narendra Modi-RSS govt" would ultimately be evicted from power.

Rahul said "vote chori" is principally BJP's attack on Ambedkar's Constitution that has enshrined the right to vote. He said BJP's DNA has "vote chori" just as truth is Congress's DNA, and accused Election Commission of working at BJP's behest.


Interacting with the party workers who had poured in from across the country for the rally, Rahul said PM Narendra Modi has lost his confidence which is reflected on his face, just like Amit Shah's hands were trembling in Lok Sabha when he challenged the home minister to a debate on his press conferences about "rigged" elections.

"You look at Modi's face carefully. Have you seen it? It is so because he knows his 'vote chori' has been caught, and the country would know their reality in the coming time," he said, referring to a point made by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in her speech.

Planned as a mass gathering to mark the conclusion of the party's nationwide signature campaign on "vote chori", the dais featured the Congress brass of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Sonia Gandhi, CMs Siddaramaiah, Sukhwinder Sukhu and Revanth Reddy, CWC members Ajay Maken, KC Venugopal, Sachin Pilot, Abhishek Singhvi, Gaurav Gogoi and P Chidambaram, among others.

In framing the argument made by speakers who linked "vote chori" to BJP's desire for victory at all costs, Rahul started his speech by referring to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's reported statement in Andamans that "world recognises power, not truth". "Hindu religion, and ideology of world religions, says that truth is most important, but Bhagwat says truth means nothing and power is important. That is the crux of the ongoing battle in India. It is a fight between 'satya and asatya'," he said, mentioning "Satyam Shivam Sundaram" and "Satyamev Jayate".

Rahul, as also Priyanka, kept the poll panel in their crosshairs, even leading the crowd in repeating the names of CEC Gyanesh Kumar and ECs SS Sandhu and Vivek Joshi. "Remember the names," they said to the crowd in their separate speeches. Rahul said Congress govt will retrospectively remove the immunity provided to the ECs by the law brought by Modi in 2023, and would act against them, repeating the chilling warning he made during the debate in LS. "You are India's EC, not Modi's EC," he said.


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