Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare JP Nadda on Tuesday accused the Opposition of attempting to create confusion by repeatedly questioning the Election Commission and blaming electronic voting machines (EVMs).
The former BJP national president was in Bareilly to participate in the 'Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao' march.
Attacking the opposition, Nadda said whenever they lose an election, they blame the Election Commission and label it dishonest.
"The opposition's only function is to spread confusion. They consistently raise questions about the Election Commission and, after losing elections, blame their defeat on EVMs," he said.
Nadda said that by raising the issue of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Rahul Gandhi has stirred up a hornet's nest.
Claiming that the Congress has set a record in 'vote chori', he said the party used to win elections by getting Bangladeshi nationals registered as voters, and as these names are being removed from the electoral rolls now, it is raising an outcry.
"Infiltrators will not run the country; they (Congress) should understand this. The public is admonishing the Congress. Those who mislead people should be given a befitting reply," he said.
Nadda accused the opposition in general and the Congress in particular of misleading the masses on the SIR issue.
"Of the 96 crore votes, the opposition alleges that 13 crore were deleted (by the Election Commission). But what are those votes that were deleted?" he asked, explaining that they were the names of absent, shifted, dead voters and dual entries that figured in more than one place.
He further accused the Congress of adopting double standards on democracy.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is talking about democracy today, but the country had witnessed an Emergency under a Congress regime, Nadda said.
During the Emergency, voices raised for democratic rights were not heard, he said, adding that he had gone to jail several times during the Congress rule.
Recalling how, on June 12, 1975, Justice Jagmohan Lal Sinha of the Allahabad High Court set aside the election of then prime minister Indira Gandhi, Nadda said that was proof of electoral malpractice.
"But what did Mrs Gandhi do after the judgment? She changed the law and said there should be a committed judiciary," he said in an obvious attempt to corner the Congress, which has rallied much of the opposition to demand the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
"These people (Congress) have always mocked the Constitution. Rajiv Gandhi had described the Planning Commission as a bunch of jokers. Guess who was heading the Commission then? It was Dr Manmohan Singh, who later went on to become the prime minister for 10 years," Nadda said.
The Union minister also recalled how Rahul Gandhi had, during Manmohan Singh's prime ministership, torn apart an ordinance moved by the then Congress government, and said that was proof of how Congress leaders undermined the Constitution.
He was referring to the incident in 2013, when the Manmohan Singh government introduced an ordinance, ostensibly to overrule an order of the apex court seeking removal of convicted lawmakers from public office.
"Now he (Rahul Gandhi) moves around holding the Constitution. Tell me, does he have the right to do so? Can such people defend the Constitution?" Nadda asked as the audience, mostly comprising BJP cadres, shouted, "No, no."
(With inputs from PTI)
