Our fight is against RSS-BJP, against those doing 'vote chori': Congress steps up attack at Ramlila Maidan rally

Stepping up the campaign on the issue of alleged election irregularities, top Congress leaders on Sunday attacked the BJP and the election commissioners at a rally in the national capital, alleging that “vote chori” is in the ruling party’s DNA and its leaders were “gaddar” who were conspiring to take away voting rights of people and should be removed from power.

Addressing a ‘Vote chor gaddi chhod’ mega rally at the Ramlila ground as the Congress sought to build public support on the issue after its Bihar defeat, Rahul Gandhi vowed to oust the “Narendra Modi-RSS government” by following the path of truth and non-violence as shown by Mahatma Gandhi.

“This fight is between ‘satya’ and ‘asatya’ (truth and untruth). We will stand behind ‘satya’ and will remove Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and RSS government from the country. They have ‘satta’ (power) and they indulge in ‘vote chori’,” he said.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that the BJP leadership was “gaddar” (traitors) as they were indulging in “vote theft” and should be removed to save the Constitution and the country.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra too challenged the BJP to win a fair election with paper ballot voting and asserted that the election commissioners would have to answer to the country on how they “conspired” to take away people’s voting rights and made every step of the poll process “suspicious”.

A huge turnout of Congress workers from across India marked the party’s mega rally against ‘vote chori’ as slogans of ‘vote chor, gaddi chhod’ reverberated at the venue. The party claimed it has collected around six crore signatures against “vote theft” and will present the same to the President of India.

Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, senior Congress leaders and chief ministers of Karnataka, Telangana and Himachal Pradesh — Siddaramaiah, Revanth Reddy and Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu — were present at the rally.

In his address, Rahul Gandhi named Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi to allege that they were working for the BJP and stood with untruth.

“Nafrat se nahin, hinsa se nahin, satya aur ahinsa ke saath (Not with hatred, not with violence, but with truth and non-violence), we will defeat Narendra Modi and Amit Shah,” Gandhi claimed.

In a post on X, Gandhi also said, “Theft is in the BJP’s DNA. Money theft - Land theft - Institution theft - Rights theft - Employment theft - Mandate theft - Government theft - Election theft - Vote theft. Theft from the people is the ladder to power for the BJP.”    Gandhi also alleged that this ‘vote chori’ is not just theft of votes, but an attack on BR Ambedkar’s Constitution.

“Had they not been indulging in vote chori, you would have removed them from power in 5 minutes. Like truth is in your DNA, there is untruth and vote chori in their DNA,” Gandhi said amid applause from the crowd.

Recalling that PM Modi brought a new law to give “immunity” to EC, Gandhi said, “We are telling you (election commissioners) clearly that this law is to protect you and we will change this law retroactively and will take strict action against you.”

He also took a swipe at PM Modi, claiming that he has lost his confidence as ‘vote theft’ has been caught. He claimed Amit Shah’s hand was trembling in Parliament. “Amit Shah is brave only as long as he holds power. The day power is gone, his bravery will also vanish on that very day,” the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.

Kharge said the ideology of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, MS Golwalkar and Manusmriti will destroy the country and only the ideology of the Congress can save it.

“The people of BJP-RSS are engaged in efforts to finish off the Constitution. In the name of Hindutva, these people want to enslave the poor again,” he said.

“On the other hand, it’s vote chori. These people are ‘gaddars’, you will have to remove these ‘gaddar’. If you want to protect yourself, then remove these ‘gaddar’... The BJP people are ‘dramebaaz’, they only believe in their own propaganda,” Kharge said.

Noting that some BJP people raised the issue of Rahul Gandhi going abroad for a visit, Kharge said Prime Minister Modi goes abroad when Parliament is in session and does not come to Parliament to give answers.

“They have occupied ‘gaddi’ through ‘vote chori’. These gaddars will have to be removed. Will you remove them?” he said.

“The seeds being sown by RSS-BJP are very dangerous. What will the poor do if they take away voting rights? They are making the poor poorer and the rich richer. Our fight is against the RSS-BJP and our fight is against those doing vote chori,” he said.

On Modi’s victory claims, Kharge said, “We lost at many places, but still our party and our ideology are alive. If Modi loses once, there will be no trace of him after that.”

“They stole our Vande Mataram, so don’t trust these thieves,” he said, as he called upon everyone to strengthen the party in this fight for the people.

Targeting the EC, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra claimed that the BJP cannot win elections without the help of the poll body. “I challenge — the BJP should contest a fair election on the ballot paper once. They will never be able to win, and the BJP also knows this fact,” Priyanka Gandhi said.

She alleged that the chief election commissioner and the two election commissioners are “attacking” India’s democracy.

“For the first time in history, the entire opposition is stating that they don’t trust the EC and the polls are not being conducted properly,” she alleged. All institutions have been made to bend before the government, she also alleged.