In ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’, Rahul Gandhi again accuses BJP of voter fraud, suggesting a major reveal is imminent; BJP dismisses comments as irresponsible. After Congress leader Rahul Gandhi doubled down on his allegations of “vote chori” and warned the BJP of another impending expose that he termed “a hydrogen bomb”, the ruling party on Monday called him irresponsible and “hard to understand”.
On the last day of his 16-day ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ in poll-bound Bihar, Rahul Gandhi referred to his claims of voter fraud in Mahadevapura segment, in the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency, as “atom bomb”. “You know what’s bigger than atom bomb — the hydrogen bomb,” Gandhi said to the crowd in Patna in Hindi, “The BJP should be ready. A hydrogen bomb is coming.”
He did not give specifics, but earlier videos of similar claims showed roars of “Varanasi” from the crowd, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s seat, at which Gandhi smirked. On Monday, he said, “Once the hydrogen bomb drops, Narendra Modi ji will not be able to show his face to the people.” BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad reacted with mirth: “Every time I hear Rahul Gandhi speak, whether inside Parliament or outside, I have to deploy many types of antenna.”
He added, “How are the atom bomb and the hydrogen bomb related to the elections? Why is Rahul Gandhi demeaning himself as the Leader of Opposition? The nation should understand, that Rahul Gandhi is irresponsible.” Gandhi launched multiple attacks at the BJP in his speech, terming the party as “forces who murdered Mahatma Gandhi [and] are now trying to destroy the Constitution of India”.
‘Theft of reservation, rights’
He said any theft of votes would also mean “theft of rights, reservation, employment, education, democracy”, again accusing the the Election Commission of India (EC) of collusion with the BJP. The ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ particularly questioned alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar. It began on August 17, with Rahul Gandhi and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, from Sasaram, and spanned 25 districts.
Several INDIA bloc leaders have attended the yatra at various points. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, CPI(ML)-L general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi, and Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin were among them. Other Congress chief ministers, including Karnataka’s Siddharamaiah, Himachal Pradesh’s Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, and Telangana’s Revanth Reddy, participated as well.
