New Delhi, Oct 6 — The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday lashed out at the Congress for "repeatedly accusing" India's institutions, including on foreign lands.
This came after the Opposition INDIA bloc MPs launched a protest march towards the Election Commission of India (ECI) headquarters in New Delhi, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over the alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
However, the opposition leaders were stopped by security personnel midway.
Addressing a press conference, BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi alleged that the Congress has repeatedly accused India's institutions.
Trivedi said: "From the Indian Army to the Indian Air Force, from India’s defence sector to LIC, HAL, SBI, SEBI, the Judiciary, the media and vaccines, how many institutions of the country has the Congress accused so far? One dozen, half a dozen, one-and-a-half dozen or two dozen? There should be a quiz contest on how many Indian institutions the Congress, particularly Rahul Gandhi, has accused so far."
Targeting the Lok Sab Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, the BJP MP said: "These allegations have also been made abroad. In March 2023, Rahul Gandhi had gone abroad and said, 'Why are the defenders of democracy in America, England and Europe silent? Why are they not taking any action in the case of India?' However, the Defenders of Democracy in America stated that the electoral process in India is conducted very well and that others should learn from the Election Commission."
Trivedi asked that if 4.5 crore suspicious beneficiaries could be identified in MGNREGA and 5.8 crore suspicious ration card beneficiaries could be identified, then "what extraordinary knowledge does the Congress possess that makes it believe that suspicious entries cannot exist in the voter list?"
Mentioning that Congress was already out of power in 228 Lok Sabha seats before the last SIR in 2003, the BJP MP asked who is responsible for the grand old party's continued disappearance?
"The Congress itself has to be blamed for its condition, years before the BJP came to power," Trivedi remarked.
The BJP MP asked whether Rahul Gandhi has ever stayed at a stretch for even one-two weeks during Assembly elections in any state, saying: "A 'kamchor' (laidback) person is now making allegations of 'vote chori'."
Taking a jibe at the Congress with regard to the bypolls being conducted on Tuesday, Trivedi said: "Since you are contesting the polls, have you got the voter lists checked?... you will also get time to check CCTV footages. So, have you put everything in place or do you want to do theatrics on the streets after a year?"