Kolkata, Nov 2 BJP president Nitin Nabin on Monday alleged that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was acting as a “toolkit” of foreign forces seeking to destabilise the country, while targeting the opposition INDIA bloc for “questioning the election process only when they lose polls”.
At a rally in Kolkata to counter the INDIA bloc’s “vote theft” campaign, he called for making Delhi “Rahul-mukt (free of Rahul Gandhi)” and accused the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha of leading those behind “anarchy” in the country, working at the behest of foreign powers that had “engineered” unrest in Nepal and other neighbouring nations.
The BJP has launched ‘Save Democracy, End Anarchy’ marches across the nation as a counter-offensive to the INDIA bloc’s campaign demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and “vote theft”.
The INDIA bloc held a mammoth rally at the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi on Sunday over the issues that were preceded by a symbolic “public impeachment” of CEC Kumar at the residence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in the national capital.
In Kolkata, Nabin led a march from College Street to Dharmatala in the central parts of the city, which was joined by West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and the party’s state unit president Samik Bhattacharya, among others.
“Rahul Gandhi is a toolkit of those forces which engineered the unrest in Nepal and other neighbouring countries. He is leading those forces who are behind the anarchy across the country,” the BJP chief alleged while addressing the rally in Dharamtala.
Sonia Gandhi has fulfilled her son Rahul Gandhi’s wish to become prime minister for a day by organising the “mock parliament”, the BJP chief said derisively. “Rahul Gandhi has no vision; he will be responsible for the Congress’ complete wipeout.”
Nabin claimed that had the Congress and Gandhi learnt lessons from their electoral failures, they would not have raised “baseless allegations” against the Election Commission.
Only when they lose polls, the Congress and its INDIA bloc constituents question constitutional bodies, including the Election Commission, and the conduct of polls through EVMs, Nabin claimed.
“If you have a problem with the poll process, why are you not questioning the election process in Kerala and Tamil Nadu where the opposition forces have won,” Nabin asked, accusing the opposition parties of disrespecting the people’s mandate.
He also targeted West Bengal’s former chief minister Mamata Banerjee, saying she was “crying” in Delhi after losing the state. “Just as Bengal has become Mamata-mukt, we will make Delhi Rahul-mukt. We defeated Congress and Rahul Gandhi in 2014, 2019 and 2024. We will do so again in 2029,” he said, drawing cheers from the crowd.
He also questioned Rahul Gandhi’s political stance, pointing out that he had criticised the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal during the Assembly elections but was now sharing a platform with its leaders.
“During the Assembly elections, Rahul Gandhi came here and spoke against corruption and misrule of the Mamata Banerjee regime. Now both are sharing the stage,” he said.
Nabin also accused the Congress of repeatedly insulting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying such attacks had only increased public support for him. “Every time the prime minister has been insulted, his support among the common people has increased.”
Modi would return to power in 2029 and hoist the national flag at the Red Fort again, the BJP chief claimed and predicted his party’s victories in five states going to polls next year.
Thanking the people of West Bengal, he said “Ram Rajya” had been established in the state and that “true freedom” had arrived. He promised that BJP workers would stand by women and work for their safety and easy access to services.
Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari sought to turn the SIR controversy into an issue of illegal immigration, telling the rally that the exercise’s “real meaning” was to drive out infiltrators. “SIR means ‘infiltrators out’. We have to fight against the ‘Dimagi Naxals’, infiltrators, cockroaches and anti-national forces.”
He accused the opposition of joining hands to pursue appeasement politics and asserted that the BJP would ensure that only Indian citizens were allowed to vote.
Adhikari said the BJP would “settle scores” with its opponents in the upcoming Kolkata and Howrah municipal elections. “Those who have joined hands to save themselves from corruption, protect dynastic politics and bring back appeasement should remember that the people of Bengal have elected the BJP with 2.92 crore votes,” he said.
Adhikari had earlier invoked the prospect of a “triple-engine government” while campaigning for the municipal elections, seeking to extend the BJP’s electoral gains to the urban local bodies.
After the march, Adhikari claimed that 25,000 people had walked through Kolkata’s streets carrying the national flag and demanding that infiltrators be removed and the country saved.
(PTI News)
