New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday asserted that Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar will be removed and put in jail for "treason" in future and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah will face legal action. The remarks were made during the 'Chalo Dilli' rally organised by the Opposition bloc at the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi.
Gandhi also described the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as "illegal" and pointed out that the Election Commission has removed 15 per cent of voters from the electoral rolls when the difference between the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the INDIA bloc was just 3 per cent votes in the last general election.
Gandhi said, "I want to say to you, Gyanesh Kumar will be removed from the CEC post. Gyanesh Kumar will go to jail."
"Amit Shah said Narendra Modi is not going anywhere. I would tell you, Narendra Modi cannot go anywhere; even if he wants to go, we will not let him," Gandhi said.
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"Narendra Modi ji and Amit Shah ji, understand this -- after Gyanesh Kumar, we will stand against you and don't forget that for the vote chori you have done, you will not go anywhere; there will be legal action against you and Narendra Modi," he said.
"Don't think of fleeing; you cannot flee. You will stay here, and this voice (of the people) will ensure action against you, Amit Shah and Gyanesh Kumar," the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.
Large turnout for rally a message to PM, HM, CEC: Gandhi
Referring to the large turnout, Gandhi said a message has gone to Prime Minister Modi, Home Minister Shah and CEC Kumar.
"This is not the voice of a political party or leaders but the voice of youth, farmers, labourers, and it is declaring that 'we will not let democracy and Constitution be destroyed in India'," Gandhi said.
"No matter how much power and money you have, you are not bigger than the Constitution," the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha said, hitting out at the Modi government.
Gandhi alleges widespread 'vote chori'
Noting that Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee gave the example of West Bengal when talking of "vote chori", Gandhi alleged that it had occurred in elections in states such as Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
"Vote chori has happened through EVMs and through deletion and addition of votes from electoral rolls. After the 2024 polls, 13.5 crore voters were removed from the voter list -- one in every seven voters, about 15 per cent of voters. The difference between us and the NDA was three per cent," he said.
"This means that the 2024 election was illegal; it was stolen. I am not saying this but the EC stated this because they have removed 13.3 crore voters from the 2024 list," he said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, accused Gandhi of acting at the behest of foreign forces to create anarchy in the country.
BJP chief Nitin Nabin said, "When they get this people's mandate in Himachal, when they win in Karnataka, then they say democracy has won, but when they lose in Haryana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, then they say democracy is in danger," Nabin said.
"What kind of dual mentality do you have? They want to run democracy according to the Gandhi family's law, but democracy will run in accordance with the country's Constitution," the party chief said.
Attacking CEC Kumar, PM Modi and HM Shah on the "vote chori" issue, Gandhi said, "This was not a normal theft as this is stealing of the voice and expression of every citizen and in legal parlance it is called 'rarest of the rare'; this is called treason," he said.
"Without Gyanesh Kumar, neither Modi would have become PM nor Shah Home Minister," Gandhi said.
RSS, businesses have captured India: Gandhi
The former Congress chief alleged that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has captured all institutions of the country.
"The result is that farmers, labourers and the youth are not getting their rights. The whole wealth has gone into the hands of two-three people who get lakhs of crores of loan waiver, but if the son of a farmer is unable to pay off a small loan he is put in jail," he said.
Gandhi said in 'Shiva ki Baraat' anyone can join in and the country should be like that. "We don't want a country where (businessman Gautam) Adani ji can capture any organisation, snatch infrastructure... We will not let this happen," he said.
To bring the country back on track, he argued that the first step would be to remove Gyanesh Kumar.
The difference between Congress, BJP, as per LoP
The Congress leader, however, emphasised that there is a difference between the Congress and the BJP.
"We don't hate Narendra Modi, Amit Shah or Gyanesh Kumar. We are the people who open 'Mohabbat Ki Dukaan'; we believe in Ahimsa. Narendra Modi ji, Amit Shah ji, Gyanesh Kumar ji, you have assaulted the soul of the country, the Constitution, democracy, and we will not accept this," he said.
"Be it Modi, Shah or Gyanesh Kumar, we will not perpetrate violence against them. We will not spread hatred; we will work with love but we will not let them destroy the Constitution," he said.
"For me, Narendra Modi is not an enemy, neither is Shah nor Gyanesh Kumar but the most important thing for me, even more than religion, is the voice of the people," he said.
"If you ask me what my religion is, I would say that the voice of every citizen being heard is my religion," he said.
Invoking Mahatma Gandhi, the Congress leader said the voice of the last person standing in line is the most important. "We must protect that voice -- whether it is Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Dalit, Adivasi, woman or disabled. We must protect their voice and eradicate hatred."
"Modi-Shah-RSS have spread hatred in the country, which is harming the soul of the nation," Gandhi alleged. "Today, the whole of Hindustan is saying - 'we don't want hatred, we want love and brotherhood, we want a country of mohabbat (love)'," he said, adding that "we will definitely make this happen".
Besides Rahul Gandhi, senior leaders, including Congress president Kharge, former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] general secretary MA Baby, Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary D Raja and Communist Party of India (ML) [CPI(ML)] Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, were present at the Ramlila Maidan rally here.
BJP accuses Gandhi of acting on behest of foreign interests
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, accused Gandhi of acting at the behest of foreign forces to create anarchy in the country.
BJP chief Nitin Nabin said, "When they get this people's mandate in Himachal, when they win in Karnataka, then they say democracy has won, but when they lose in Haryana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, then they say democracy is in danger," Nabin said.
"What kind of dual mentality do you have? They want to run democracy according to the Gandhi family's law, but democracy will run in accordance with the country's Constitution," the party chief said.
