Addressing the INDIA bloc’s ‘Save Democracy’ rally at the Ramlila Maidan here, the former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said this is not an ordinary election but one to save the country’s democracy and Constitution.
Published Date – 31 March 2024, 06:46 PM
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addresses the Loktantra Bachao Maharally, at Ramlila Maidan, in New Delhi on Sunday. (Photo: ANI)
New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of trying to do “match-fixing” in the Lok Sabha polls and asserted that if the BJP wins the election through this endeavour and changes the Constitution, then the whole country would be “finished”.
Addressing the INDIA bloc’s ‘Save Democracy’ rally at the Ramlila Maidan here, the former Congress chief said this is not an ordinary election but one to save the country’s democracy and Constitution.
“When pressure is put on umpires and captain, players are bought off and the match is won, in cricket, it is called match-fixing. We have Lok Sabha polls before us. Who selected the umpires? Before the match started, two players were arrested… Narendra Modi is trying to do match-fixing in these polls,” Gandhi said.
The BJP is raising the slogan of getting 400 seats, but without EVMs, “match-fixing”, pressuring media and buying them, they will not be able to reach even 180 seats, he claimed.
Gandhi said the Congress is the biggest opposition party and all its accounts have been frozen at a time the party has to run a campaign and send leaders in states amidst the Lok Sabha polls.
“What kind of elections are these…governments are made to fall by using money power, leaders are threatened and arrested, Soren ji and Kejriwal ji are arrested,” Gandhi alleged, adding that “match-fixing is being done by PM Modi along with three-four billionaires”.
This is being done to “snatch” the Constitution from the poor, he said.
The Constitution is the voice of the people and the day “it is finished, this country will be finished”, he asserted, adding if the Constitution goes, the rights of the poor and reservation will also go.
The country cannot be run by threats and police, and the Constitution is its heartbeat, he said.
If the Constitution is finished this country will be torn apart into different states, he said, adding that this is the BJP’s objective.
“They think the country can be run with the threats and intimidation of police, CBI and ED… You can buy media and suppress them but you cannot suppress the voice of India. No force in this world can suppress voice of people,” the former Congress chief said.
“A BJP MP said ‘we will change the Constitution when we get over 400 seats’. It was not said just like that, it was to test the idea,” Gandhi said, referring to Anantkumar Hegde’s remark about amending the Constitution.
Gandhi said this fight is to save the Constitution.
“If the Constitution goes, the rights of the poor will go and reservation will also go…the wealth of the poor, farmers and labourers will go into the hands of five-six people,” Gandhi alleged.
“Tell me who benefitted from the GST. There is the highest unemployment today in the last 40 years. One per cent people have the entire wealth of the country. There are 22 people who have the same wealth as 70 crore people,” he said.
The BJP wants to change the Constitution to take away the wealth of the people, he alleged.
“I have talked about caste census, employment to youth, MSP to farmers…these are the biggest issues before the country. But, if you do not vote with full force, their match-fixing will succeed. The day match-fixing succeeds, our Constitution will be finished.
“The day our Constitution is finished, it will be a big blow to the heart of India. This election is not an ordinary election. This election is a fight to save the Constitution, the country and saving the rights of the poor, backwards and tribals,” Gandhi said.
He said the entire country is watching this “match-fixing” in the election.
It was Prime Minister Modi who appointed the Election Commission, put two chief ministers behind bars merely one or two months ahead of elections and “froze our bank accounts”, Gandhi said.
“They want to make the opposition unable to fight elections. That is why they froze bank accounts, appointed their own people in the election commission, are putting pressure on the judiciary because they want to fix the match,” he alleged.
The Congress leader claimed that if the BJP wins the election through “match-fixing” and changes the Constitution, then the country would be “set ablaze” and it would not survive.
In a show of opposition unity ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, INDIA bloc leaders came together at a ‘Loktantra Bachao’ rally at the Ramlila ground here on Sunday against the backdrop of Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal’s arrest.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI general secretary D Raja, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah, and Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren, among others, attended the rally.
