New Delhi, Aug 24: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday alleged that after “vote chori”, the BJP is now engaged in “satta chori” by bringing bills to “topple opposition governments within 30 days” and “destabilise” democracy by using arrest as a weapon.
Kharge claimed that the bills take away the right of citizens to form or remove their elected government and give that power to institutions like ED-CBI.
“It is like running a bulldozer on democracy,” the Congress chief said.
He made the comments in his opening statement at the meeting with newly-appointed presidents of the District Congress Committees (DCC) of Haryana and Madhya Pradesh at the Indira Bhawan here.
Later in the day, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi also addressed the DCC Presidents’ Training Programme here.
“An important step in preparing our Congress organisation to fight for the people’s voice with renewed strength,” he said in a Facebook post.
Gandhi returned to the capital from Bihar and addressed the programme in the evening as there is a break day in his Voter Adhikar Yatra on Monday. The yatra will resume from Supaul, Bihar on Tuesday.
In his remarks, Kharge cautioned the DCC chiefs to take special care in forming booth and Mandal committees and ensure that the people on these panels are loyal to the party and do not waver from the ideology of the Congress.
“The district president forms the Block Committee under him. He forms Mandal and Booth Committees. When you form these committees, take special care that all these people are loyal to the party and hardworking. Most importantly, they should not waver from the ideology of the Congress,” Kharge said.
Even if someone tempts them, their loyalty should remain for the Congress, such people are needed, he stressed.
Kharge said the Congress ruled the country for a long time because of its strong organisation and it was necessary for the ministers to contact the district president first when they went to the district.
“The district president is the strongest link in the Congress organisation. If the government has to be elected in the state, he plays an important role in getting the candidate elected in the legislative assemblies. If the government has to be formed in the country, your support is needed to win the Lok Sabha,” he told the DCC chiefs of Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.
“In between, there was a slight change in this tradition. Ministers started making their favourite people the district president. Ability and ideology started being ignored. Rahul (Gandhi) ji and I realised that we cannot return to power strongly without strengthening our organisation, without giving importance to the district presidents,” he said.
Kharge pointed out that recently Gandhi had given a detailed presentation how votes were “stolen” in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura seat in a strategic way through a “conspiracy”.
“We came to know all this after six months of research,” he said.
“The Election Commission did not give any answer at first. Now the whole country is understanding this. The BJP government and EC’s narrative on SIR in Bihar has got a setback from the Supreme Court,” he said.
Speaking about the recently-concluded Monsoon session, Kharge said the Opposition wanted Parliament to function and important issues of the public are discussed but the BJP government did not want key matters like SIR (Special Intensive Revision) of electoral rolls and “vote chori” to be discussed.
“The BJP will continue to cut the votes of our people with schemes like SIR. The biggest responsibility of the district president is that we have to be careful for the entire five years,” he said.
“We have to keep intensively checking our voter list so that if BJP people or BLOs cut the names of our people, we can catch them immediately,” Kharge said.
He urged the Congress leaders to tell the people that the right to vote for everyone in this country is the gift of the Congress.
“Rajiv Gandhi reduced the voting age from 21 to 18 years so that the participation of youth in democracy could be increased,” he pointed out.
Noting that Rahul Gandhi is undertaking the Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar on the issue of “vote theft”, Kharge said lakhs of people are joining the yatra but “the prime minister is talking about infiltrators to mislead people”.
“After vote theft, the BJP is now engaged in power theft. On the last day of Parliament, they brought three new bills, including one for a constitutional amendment. Whereas they do not have a two-thirds majority,” he said.
Kharge alleged that bills take away the right of citizens to form or remove their elected government and give that power to institutions like ED-CBI.
“With these bills, the BJP can topple opposition governments within 30 days, it can destabilise democracy by using arrest as a weapon,” Kharge further alleged.
“We have seen that out of 193 cases against opposition leaders, the ED action has resulted in conviction in only two cases. Many chief ministers and ministers were arrested and kept in jail for months. But now the CBI is saying that they do not have any evidence,” he said.
“Modiji talks big about corruption today. But he has included all those whom he used to call corrupt in the party and has even made them ministers,” Kharge said at the meeting.
The Congress chief also urged the DCC chiefs to avoid factionalism and work unitedly to strengthen the organisation.
“Finally, I want to say the most important thing – that you have to keep everyone united. Do not let factionalism flourish. When Congress remains united, only then we win elections,” he asserted.
Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday had introduced in the Lok Sabha three bills for the removal of the prime minister, chief ministers, and ministers under arrest for 30 consecutive days on serious charges, drawing fierce protests from opposition MPs who tore up copies of the draft law and marched close to his seat shouting slogans.
The bills were sent by the House to a Joint Committee of Parliament comprising 21 members from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha for scrutiny.
The three bills are the Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill 2025; the Constitution (One Hundred And Thirtieth Amendment) Bill 2025; and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill 2025.
The bills have proposed that if the prime minister, Union ministers or chief ministers are arrested and detained in custody for 30 consecutive days for offences that attract a jail term of at least five years, they will lose their jobs on the 31st day. (Agencies)
