BJP slams Rahul Gandhi for remarks on ECI, calls him 'traitor'
The BJP on Monday dubbed Leader of Opposition (LOP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi a “traitor” for his remarks on the sanctity of the Election Commission of India (ECI). The saffron party accused him of venting out his frustration over the Enforcement Directorate (ED) action in the National Herald case on the poll body.
Rahul, who is on a visit to the US, had raised questions about the BJP-led coalition’s victory in the Maharashtra Assembly polls and alleged that the ECI was compromised. In 2024, the BJP-led Maha Yuti alliance won a landslide victory, winning 235 seats in the 288-member Assembly. The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) could only win 50 seats, with the Congress reducing to 16.
Lashing at Rahul over his comments, BJP MP Sambit Patra said, “You are venting the ire over the ED on the EC. Nothing will happen by doing so. The ED will not spare you because agencies work based on facts, and the National Herald matter is an open and shut case. You will not be spared. You and your mother will be caught with proceeds of crime and sent to jail,” Patra told reporters during a press conference at BJP headquarters here.
“Both Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi will go behind bars in connection with the case,” Patra asserted.
“You are a traitor, not just because you insult Indian institutions and Indian democracy on foreign soil, but also because you and your mother have embezzled crores of rupees of the country in the National Herald case. You and your mother will not be able to get away with this,” Patra added.
Congress leader Rahul cited the Maharashtra Assembly polls to allege that the EC is “compromised” and “there is something wrong with the system”, during his address to the Indian diaspora in Boston on Sunday. He said more people voted in the polls than there are adults in Maharashtra.
“This is a fact. The EC gave us a voting figure at 5.30 in the evening, and between 5.30 in the evening and 7.30 in the evening, when the polls were supposed to have closed, 65 lakh voters voted. This is physically impossible to happen. For a voter to vote, it takes approximately three minutes. If you do the math, it would mean that there were lines of voters until 2 o’clock at night, and this did not happen,” he said.
Rahul said the EC refused to check the video footage of the poll process. “They not only refused to give us the videography, they changed the law so that you are not allowed to ask for the videography. It is very clear to us that the Election Commission is compromised, and there is something very wrong with the system,” he said.
In its chargesheet, the ED has alleged that the Gandhis and other accused acquired assets of Associated Journals Ltd (AJL), the publisher of the National Herald, at an undervalued rate of Rs 50 lakh, compared to the actual market value of assets worth Rs 2,000 crore. The AJL was founded by India's first Prime Minister Jawarharlal Nehru. The assets were acquired by a "not-for-profit" company, Young Indian, which is controlled by Sonia and Rahul, the ED alleged.
