Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday hit out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over the opposition's protests against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, warning that the Congress would face another "crushing defeat" in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.
In his first remarks on the ongoing agitation demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation and the scrapping of SIR, Shah accused the Congress of pursuing negative politics and said it needed to introspect rather than rely on what he described as fabricated media events.
"The people of this country are with Narendra Modi ji, with the BJP, with the NDA. You cannot deny this truth," Shah told reporters, asserting that the National Democratic Alliance would return to power with a resounding majority in 2029.
He also accused Gandhi and his associates of seeking to register infiltrators as voters and questioned whether the Congress's electoral losses could be attributed to SIR, which began after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
"Ever since you became the principal leader of the Congress, and later its president, and now the Leader of the Opposition, the Congress party has continuously lost elections," Shah said, urging Gandhi to introspect.
The Home Minister's remarks came amid a series of opposition protests alleging "vote chori" and demanding the withdrawal of SIR. On Monday, INDIA bloc leaders, along with activists and civil society representatives, took out a "March for Democracy" in central Delhi and filed a joint petition challenging SIR and alleged electoral irregularities.
The protest was attended by Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, CPI leader D Raja, CPI(M) leader M A Baby, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and NCP(SP) leader Supriya Sule, among others.
On Tuesday, Gandhi hosted INDIA bloc leaders for tea at his residence. Following the meeting, the opposition alliance vowed to continue its campaign against alleged vote theft.
Dismissing the opposition's show of strength, Shah said the participation of cadres from 14 parties and a gathering of around 8,000 people in a 1.5-km stretch did not make Gandhi the voice of the country.
"The voice of the nation is also in the fields and farms, in the villages, in distant hills, in forests, and along riverbanks. You have no reach there," he said.
Shah cited recent bypolls and local body election results to argue that voters had repeatedly rejected the Congress. He said the party failed to win a single seat in the recent bypolls in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, while the BJP secured victories in several constituencies.
He also highlighted the BJP's performance in Gujarat's local body elections, claiming that the party had won 90 of 104 seats across three civic bodies. In the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation, the BJP won 38 of the 44 seats, he said.
Shah further cited the BJP's performance in Rajasthan's local body elections and Tripura's village committee polls, where the party secured a vote share of 77.5 per cent, as evidence of continued public support for the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Referring to Gujarat, Shah said the Congress had not won an election in the state since 1985 and argued that the BJP's victories reflected its popularity rather than any alleged irregularities in electoral rolls.
"Is this the result of the SIR?" he asked, challenging Gandhi to explain the Congress's repeated electoral defeats.
(With inputs from PTI)
