HYDERABAD: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Thursday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always wanted to capture power using divisive tactics adopted from the imperialist British playbook. He said that the BJP has tried to divide Indians on the basis of religion, caste, region and language.
Addressing the media after paying tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at the Raj Ghat in New Delhi, the chief minister said: “The fight to save the right to vote is not for the sake of the Congress or the INDIA bloc. It has been taken up to save the voting rights of the common people.”
“The country’s voter population has grown from 81 crores during the 2014 elections to 91 crores in 2019. The number of voters rose to 97 crores by 2024. How come the number of voters has fallen by 13 crores when the population has grown to 140 crores? PM should explain this to the people. This will be the single largest disenfranchisement exercise on planet earth,” he added.
Revanth alleged that the Union government has misused the central agencies to weaken opposition, stifle and weaken the institutions. “Now that their defeat is imminent, the country is being divided into two major camps -- those who have the right to vote and those whose vote they want to steal. The BJP is afraid of the poor people who have turned against them — the subalterns: Dalits, tribals, OBCs and minorities. Hence, they want to take away their vote,” he said.
“We are facing a strange situation. The number of voters has gone up in every single election since 1952, including the last three General Elections when Modi came to power. For the next election, however, the number of voters will come down. But the people of India won’t allow it,” he said.
Asserting that the Congress was formed to get independence for India, not for power, he said: “We ensured India became free and that every Indian got their voting rights. Today, if the government can steal people’s votes, tomorrow all their rights, including reservations and fundamental rights, will be snatched away.”
“The INDIA bloc will stand for the right of every Indian to vote. No force on earth can stop us. Either the BJP sack CEC Gyanesh Kumar, reverse the SIR exercise and restore the voting right of every citizen, or it will be consigned to the dustbin of Indian political history,” he added.