Bhubaneswar: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Friday accused the BJP of making attempts to “steal (chori) the upcoming elections in Bihar, as it did in Maharashtra” last year.
The Congress leader also accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of not doing its duty but working for the interest of the BJP.
Addressing the party’s ‘Samvidhan Bachao Samavesh (Save Constitution rally)’ here, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha also said the INDIA bloc, of which Congress is a part, decided to prevent the BJP from stealing the Bihar Assembly polls.
The Congress has been alleging that the manipulation of the voters’ list helped a BJP-led alliance win the Maharashtra Assembly polls in 2024.
“Like Maharashtra, attempts are being made to steal the elections in Bihar. The BJP is attacking our Constitution across the country… At a meeting yesterday, the INDIA bloc decided to prevent the BJP and ECI from stealing the elections in Bihar,” Gandhi said.
The Assembly polls in Bihar are due later this year.
“A Maharashtra-like conspiracy is underway in Bihar to manipulate election outcomes. We wanted to know how one crore voters were added to the list ahead of the Maharashtra elections. But the ECI has no reply,” Gandhi said.
The BJP runs the government for five to six capitalists and not the common people of the country, he alleged.
“Nowhere in the Constitution is it written that the country belongs to Adani, Ambani or billionaires only, but the present government is doing everything for 5-6 capitalists at the cost of common people,” Gandhi said.
Alleging that Lord Jagannath’s Rath Yatra in Puri was halted for Adani and his family, the Congress leader claimed that Odisha has become a model for them.
Odisha’s resources are being given to five to six large companies, he said, adding that he met farmers, women and others in the state and listened to their plights.
“On one side are Odisha’s poor people – Dalits, tribals, backwards classes, the weak, farmers, and labourers. On the other hand, there are five-six billionaires and the BJP government. The Congress party workers, together with the people of Odisha, can win this battle, and no one else can,” Gandhi said.
Stating that the ‘Jal, Jangal, Jamin’ (water, forest and land) belong to the tribals and will remain for them, Gandhi claimed that Odisha’s BJP government has “not implemented” the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 and handed over tribal land to corporates.
Alleging that forest rights pattas are not provided to the tribals, Gandhi said the Congress has brought the PESA and Tribal Bill and the party will enforce these laws and ensure that tribals get their land.
“The government here takes your wealth, your forests, and your land from you 24 hours a day. It displaces you from your land, does not provide proper compensation, and intimidates and threatens you,” he said at the meeting.
“Whoever the government is attacking, whoever is facing oppression, Congress leaders will stand by them, I will stand by them,” Gandhi said.
Voicing serious concerns over women’s safety in Odisha, he alleged that over 40,000 women have gone missing from the state, and no one knows their whereabouts.
Around 15 women are being raped in Odisha every day, but the government is simply watching, he claimed.
Gandhi said the caste-based census was successfully conducted by the Congress government in Telangana, and it should also be done in Odisha to determine the exact population distribution across communities and understand their social and economic status.
Referring to the ongoing strike by drivers in the state, Gandhi claimed that the agitation was part of a BJP conspiracy to derail the Congress event.
“The BJP put pressure on the drivers’ union to hinder our rally. However, we prevailed as the union agreed to pause their strike for a day. The state government must take responsibility and address the legitimate demands of the protestors,” he said.
PTI
