New Delhi: Hitting out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and his aides over the opposition protests against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said that they should be prepared once again for a "crushing defeat" in 2029 Lok Sabha polls and that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will win the polls with a "resounding majority".
"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," Shah said.
Shah also said the kind of "negative politics" the Congress has been engaged in will not benefit it as the opposition party needs to understand people and connect with the public.
"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.
Slamming Gandhi, Shah said people of India know his plans of "getting infiltrators registered as voters".
"I want to ask Shri Rahul Gandhi ji directly: Is this the result of the SIR? The SIR started only after 2024.
"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. You need to engage in introspections. You cannot win the trust of the country's people through fabricated media events and echoes of lies," he said.
Shah's remarks came as INDIA bloc leaders concluded their high-tea meeting at Rahul Gandhi's residence.
Continuing the attack on Rahul Gandhi, the Home Minister said, "You cannot win the trust of the nation's people through fabricated media events and 'Jhooth Ki Goonj'. You cannot become the voice of the nation merely by mobilising the cadres of fourteen parties to gather a crowd of eight thousand within a span of one and a half kilometres".
Highlighting the gap between public perception and opposition strategy, he urged the Congress leadership to re-evaluate their outreach, pointing out that true national sentiment lies beyond major urban centres and central protest sites.
"I urge the Congress party to realise that the voice of the nation also resides in the fields and farms, in the villages, in remote hills and forests, and along the riverbank areas where you have no reach. There are many states in the country, such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu, where the people have rejected and defeated the Congress party for decades," he said.
Further, extending gratitude to the citizens for their continued trust in the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he thanked voters across various regions for placing their preference on the BJP's 'Lotus' symbol amidst what he termed a "storm of malicious propaganda."
(With inputs from PTI & ANI)