NEW DELHI: Home minister Amit Shah Wednesday launched a sharp rebuttal to opposition’s “vote chori” pitch, asserting that Congress’s poll defeats stemmed from leadership failure rather than vote irregularities. Instead of introspection, he said, they were deflecting blame by peddling a false narrative of vote theft.
“One day, Congress cadre will question their leadership,” he said, intervening in the LS debate on poll reforms.
Shah challenged LoP Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that RSS had “captured” institutions, questioning – “Is there a law in this country that bars a person with RSS ideology from holding constitutional posts? The PM is from RSS, and so is the home minister.”
Shah counters Cong, lists ‘vote chori’ by Nehru, Indira, Sonia
New Delhi: Intervening in the Lok Sabha debate on electoral reforms, Union home minister Amit Shah emphasised that RSS ideology was to live and die for the nation, to make Bharat more prosperous and stronger. Recalling his youth, he said, “When I was 10 years old, I shouted slogans – ‘Assam ki galiyan suni hain, Indira Gandhi khooni hai’.”He said that whenever the opposition faced a setback, it tries to shift the blame. “The people’s mandate is the blessing of ‘janta janardan’, and dubbing the poll process as ‘vote chori’ is an insult to the country’s voters, who are watching,” Shah said.Delivering a point-by-point rebuttal to the opposition’s charges, the home minister mounted a strong defence of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls by EC. “If someone asked a question in a press conference, they were labelled a BJP agent; if they (opposition) lost a court case, they accused the judge; and if they lost an election, they blamed EVMs. When the EVM narrative failed, they shifted to ‘vote chori’, and they still lost in Bihar.” Enumerating what he called Congress’s “anti-people” stand that led to its electoral decimation, Shah listed its objection to Article 370’s abrogation, CAA, triple talaq abolition, surgical strikes, Ram Mandir construction, and now ‘one nation one election’ and SIR. “This is why you lost election after election. Keep opposing SIR, you will be wiped out in West Bengal and TN too,” hesaid.Shah cited the 1969 presidential polls, recalling how then-PM Indira Gandhi defied her party’s decision and called for voting on “antaratma ki awaaz” as she supported V V Giri against official candidate Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy. “Since Indira Gandhi’s position in the party was precarious and Reddy had majority support, she took the communists’ help and obliged them with appointments in key institutions. The country’s institutions were diverted towards communist ideology by Indira Gandhi, which are being reformed by PM Modi since 2014.” Shah said the opposition wanted to retain “avaidh ghuspathiye (illegal immigrants)” on the voter list, which was why they raised the SIR issue. Modi govt’s policy, however, was clear – detect all aliens, delete their names from voter list and deport them.In his 90-minute speech, Shah provided a detailed rebuttal to opposition’s charges on SIR. The session witnessed interruptions from Rahul, who challenged Shah to debate his three press conferences on “vote chori”. This led to heated exchanges, culminating in an opposition walkout. Taking a swipe at Rahul’s claim that “they held only 33% influence” in the collegium selecting election commissioners, Shah said, “Those who draft your speech should work harder. You had 100% control earlier when your party was in power – the PM was the sole appointing authority, with no specific law. You should thank us for giving you 33% say now.” Addressing Rahul’s query on deletion of CCTV footage after 45 days, Shah said, “Common sense is not an injection. As per the Constitution, a writ petition challenging an election can be filed within 45 days. After that, keeping recordings serves no point. Besides, it’s not possible to provide footage to anyone.” Shah said three instances of “vote chori” by Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. “Post-independence, Sardar Patel was backed by 28 persons, while Nehru was supported by two, yet Nehru became PM – this was vote chori,” he said, adding the second was by Indira Gandhi, who granted herself immunity after a court set aside her election. The third dispute, he said, had reached civil courts regarding how Sonia Gandhi “became a voter before becoming a citizen of India” – a remark that drew sharp protests from Congress MPs. Shah accused the opposition of spreading falsehoods on SIR, asking whether democracy could be safe if PMs and CMs were decided by “ghuspathiye”. Fiery exchanges ensued, with Rahul saying, “Let us have a debate on my press conference. Shah ji, I challenge you to debate on the three pressers.” Shah said he would not frame his speech according to LoP’s wishes or change its sequence on demand.Hailing Shah’s speech in the Lok Sabha, PM Modi said on X: “An outstanding speech by home minister Shri Amit Shah ji. With concrete facts, he has highlighted diverse aspects of our electoral process, the strength of our democracy and also exposed the lies of the Opposition.”
