INDIA bloc leaders on Thursday staged a peaceful protest at Mahatma Gandhi's memorial at Rajghat to highlight what they alleged was the "hijacking" of the country by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and the Chief Election Commissioner through a criminal conspiracy by indulging in 'vote chori'.
The opposition leaders prayed at Mahatma Gandhi's memorial for "wisdom to the BJP government and the chief election commissioner".
They also paid floral tributes at the memorial and later sat in a peaceful protest there.
The opposition leaders said they would continue their protest on Friday and are likely to meet in Parliament House in the morning.
Several leaders later said they would continue their struggle till CEC Gyanesh Kumar resigns, even though they did not disclose their strategy.
Congress leader and head of media and publicity department Pawan Khera told reporters, "You saw how INDIA bloc MPs and leaders peacefully protested at Rajghat and paid respects to Mahatma Gandhi. We prayed for wisdom to this government, wisdom to CEC Gyanesh Kumar and prayed for protecting the vote of every voter as well as democracy in the country."
CPI-M leader John Brittas said this protest will continue Friday also.
"Till Gyanesh Kumar tenders his resignation, INDIA bloc protest will be continuing. If his masters - Modi and Amit Shah - are bent upon protecting Gyanesh Kumar, they will also sink with him. We are proceeding with resolve and determination."
CPI leader P Sandosh also said, "We will continue our protest tomorrow also. It will be better for the country if Gyanesh Kumar resigns soon."
V Sivadasan of CPI-M said the unity of opposition parties is intact.
Earlier, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi alleged that Modi, Shah, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and CEC Kumar have destroyed the Constitution and asserted that they will be brought to justice for their conspiracy.
Gandhi said this after Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge hosted a lunch for opposition MPs and leaders at Moets restaurant in Outer Circle, Connaught Place and decided to sit in on a peaceful protest at Rajghat.
Then they left for Rajghat in air-conditioned buses parked outside the restaurant. The Congress workers walked along with the buses till Rajghat, which is a few kilometres away from central Delhi.
This is the third consecutive day of protests by opposition MPs and leaders.
CJP meet up in Bengaluru
The opposition against the SIR intensified with CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, and actor-activist Prakash Raj joining a protest, demanding the scrapping of the electoral roll revision exercise and the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Addressing the protest described as 'People's Tribunal' and organised by civil society groups and the CJP at the historic Freedom Park, Dipke alleged that voter name deletions under the SIR aimed to disenfranchise those opposed to the BJP. He also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the EC of "undermining" democracy.
Claiming that people whose names had been deleted from the electoral rolls were present at the agitation, Dipke said their presence demonstrated they were alive despite being listed as deceased.
"Narendra Modi became Prime Minister by deleting and stealing votes," he alleged.
Dipke said, "People who were declared dead are standing here alive. So the death that has taken place is not the death of these people. It is the death of the democracy of this country."
The CJP founder alleged that Election Commission officials, including Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, had deleted the votes of people complying with the alleged directions of PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
He also claimed that 13 crore votes had been deleted across India and around one crore in Karnataka, stating this figure represented 13 to 14 per cent of the registered vote share.
Such deletions had helped the BJP win states it could not have won even during the peak of the Modi wave.
Dipke raised slogans targeting CEC Kumar, saying, "Now, Gyanu, your turn has come", to quit, following Dharmendra Pradhan, who stepped down as Union Minister.
The RSS ideology did not believe in an inclusive India or the philosophies of Dr B R Ambedkar and 'Periyar' EV Ramasamy, and instead it invoked Nathuram Godse, the CJP founder claimed.
"We have to fight against that ideology to save our democracy and to save our country," Dipke said.
Describing Mahatma Gandhi as the soul of India, Ambedkar as its backbone and Jawaharlal Nehru as its mind, Dipke said the country's foundation was laid by the three leaders.
He said Modi could not compare himself with them and alleged that he wanted to remain in power longer than Nehru by deleting votes.
He praised Nehru for conducting the first general election in the country and extending voting rights to people who, he said, had neither knowledge of elections nor documents.
Later, addressing a press conference, Dipke asserted that his party would march to Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on October 10 demanding that the SIR exercise be scrapped and accountability fixed for the alleged deletion of names of voters from the electoral rolls.
The CJP leader said the agitation will go ahead even if its leaders are detained or arrested.
Dipke criticised the Union government for restricting public gatherings in the national capital.
"Jantar Mantar belongs to the people of India, it does not belong to Union Home Minister Amit Shah," he said.
"If Mumbai and Bengaluru can have peaceful protests, why is Amit Shah not allowing it in Delhi?" asked the CJP founder.
Dhruv Rathee, demanding the CEC's resignation, alleged that there was "zero transparency and zero accountability from the Election Commission" regarding the SIR exercise.
The YouTuber alleged that 'Vote Chori' (vote theft) concerned every citizen irrespective of their political affiliation.
Rathee stressed that his participation was not on behalf of any political party and said the issue should concern BJP supporters as well.
Referring to West Bengal, Rathee claimed that around 70,000 voters were removed from the electoral rolls before the Assembly elections and were added after the election results.
"They were real, genuine voters. They were on the electoral rolls before the elections, and they were on the electoral rolls afterwards, but they were not on the rolls at the time of voting," he claimed.
In Bihar, Rathee claimed around 65 lakh names were removed from the electoral rolls and alleged that the Election Commission did not disclose the names and addresses of those affected until the Supreme Court ordered that the information be made public.
Actor-activist Prakash Raj demanded scrapping the SIR exercise, alleging it was not merely about deletion of votes, but an attack on the dignity and rights of citizens.
He alleged that the names of the tribal people, the poor, Muslims and other minorities had been removed from the electoral rolls.
