Patna, Sept 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.
Workers of various constituents of Mahagathbandhan lined up along the 7-km route of the Yatra on the last day, carrying flags and raising slogans in support of their leaders, amid the sound of ‘vote chori’ tunes, creating a charged atmosphere.
Gandhi was joined by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Vikassheel Insan Party chief Mukesh Sahani, CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby, CPI (ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, CPI’s Annie Raja, TMC MP Yusuf Pathan, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut and other INDIA bloc leaders.
The Yatra led by Gandhi and other Mahagathbandhan leaders covered a total of 1,300 km and passed through 110 assembly constituencies in 25 of the 38 districts ahead of the upcoming state elections.
“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”.
The BJP, however, mocked Gandhi’s claim of “hydrogen bomb”, saying his “atom bomb” had turned out to be a damp squib, and accused him of demeaning his position as the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha with “irresponsible” comments.
The ‘Gandhi se Ambedkar’ march by the opposition parties on Monday was stopped midway by the police at the Dak Bungalow crossing, where the INDIA bloc leaders addressed a gathering.
In his address, Kharge attacked Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, saying the JD(U) chief used to talk of socialism earlier but then “fell into the lap” of the BJP-RSS, which will dump him “where garbage is dumped”.
Accusing Prime Minister Modi of being a “habitual” of “stealing votes”, Kharge alleged that he is attempting to win the Bihar Assembly polls through “vote chori” (vote theft), and asserted that the BJP-led NDA’s “double-engine” government in Bihar would be voted out soon, with a new government of the poor, backwards and Dalits being formed.
“Once upon a time, he used to go around and talk about socialism and praise Ram Manohar Lohia and George Fernandes and others. Where did those socialist ideas go? Now you have gone and fallen into the lap of the BJP-RSS.”
“This BJP-RSS will dump you where garbage is dumped,” the Congress chief said, launching a stinging attack on Nitish Kumar.
“This Voter Adhikar Yatra was discussed throughout the country. There were attempts to disrupt it, but the people of Bihar and the Mahagathbandhan did not back down,” Kharge said. (PTI)
