Rahul insulting voters in arrogance, belittling position of LoP: BJP
PATNA, Sep 1: Days after accusing the BJP of stealing elections, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday threatened that he will soon amplify his charges by coming out with more “vote chori” disclosures that would be like a “Hydrogen bomb” and Prime Minister Narendra Modi would not be able to show his face to the country.
Speaking at the concluding event of his ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ here, Gandhi said Bihar, being a revolutionary state, has given a message to the country about “vote chori” and will not allow such malpractice.
Alleging that the forces that killed Mahatma Gandhi are now trying to “murder” democracy and the Constitution, he claimed that the opposition INDIA bloc would not allow them to do so.
“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’ ((vote thieves, vacate the throne),” the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said at a major public meeting in the heart of the capital here.
With this, the 15-day Voter Adhikar Yatra in poll-bound Bihar, which started from Sasaram on August 17, ended with a boisterous response from workers of the Congress, RJD and Left parties that displayed their strength on the streets of Patna on the last day on Monday.
“BJP people showed black flags to us. I want to tell them, listen carefully. Have you heard of anything bigger than an atom bomb? What is bigger than that; it is a hydrogen bomb. In Mahadevapura, we had shown an atom bomb. BJP people, be ready, a hydrogen bomb is coming. People are soon going to find out your (BJP) reality of vote chori,” 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 amid a thunderous applause from the crowds.
Citing data from the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Gandhi had last month claimed that over one lakh votes were “stolen” through “manipulation” in Mahadevapura assembly segment in Karnataka, and asserted that “vote chori” is an “atom bomb on our democracy”.
BJP MOCKS RAHUL
The BJP on Monday mocked Rahul Gandhi’s claim that he will soon come out with a “hydrogen bomb” as part of his “vote chori” charge, saying that his “atom bomb” had turned out to be a damp squib, and accused him of demeaning his position of the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha with irresponsible comments.
Taking on Gandhi, whose Vote Adhikar Yatra concluded in Patna, for his barbs at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Congress leader and his party have a history of “abusing” Modi. But people, he added, have repeatedly rejected Gandhi and reposed faith in the prime minister.
By alleging fraud and deceit behind the BJP’s victories under Modi’s leadership, the Congress leader has been insulting voters, he said. “This is arrogance and we will tell voters to punish him for his arrogance,” he said.
The former Union minister took repeated jabs at RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav as well for playing “second fiddle” to Gandhi in Bihar despite the Congress lacking a political base in the state. Yadav has claims over the chief minister’s chair but has ceded the front seat to Gandhi, he added.
The Yatra, he asserted, will have no impact on the Bihar assembly polls, expected to be held in October-November. (PTI)