Rohtas : Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday lambasted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over the allegation of 'vote theft', calling his 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' a "Ghuspaithiya Bachao Yatra" (Save the Infiltrators March).
Interacting with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers in Rohtas, the Union Minister accused the Congress party of ignoring development issues and instead working to protect "illegal infiltrators" from Bangladesh.
Addressing the gathering, Shah said, "They (Congress) spread a false narrative every time. Rahul Gandhi did a Yatra... The topic of his yatra was not vote theft. The topic was not good education, employment, electricity, roads... The topic of the tour was saving the infiltrators who have come from Bangladesh. Have any of you lost their votes?... This was Rahul Gandhi's 'Ghuspaithiya Bachao Yatra'."
Questioning the relevance of the Congress's yatra, Shah asked, "Should infiltrators have the right to vote or free rations? Should infiltrators get jobs, houses, treatment up to 5 lakh rupees?... Instead of our youth, this Rahul Baba and company are giving jobs to vote bank infiltrators."
He urged BJP workers to spread awareness about the alleged risks if Congress came to power, saying, "It is our responsibility to go to every house and tell them that if their government is formed even by mistake, then there will be only infiltrators in every district of Bihar."
The remarks came as both the BJP and Congress intensified their campaigns in Bihar ahead of the upcoming assembly elections later in October or November. Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi slammed the Election Commission of India for allegedly "not cooperating" with the voter fraud investigation opened up by the Karnataka Crime Investigation Department (Karnataka CID) in the Aland assembly segment in the Kalaburagi district.
The leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha has claimed that the investigation into the alleged fraud has been stalled for over 2 years as the poll body is not replying to the letters sent by the CID, calling it "proof" that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is "protecting vote chors (vote thieves).
"February 2023 investigation is started, March 2023 Karnataka CID writes to ECI asking for all details. Incomplete details are given in August, with which no investigation can happen. Whatever was not needed was given, whatever was needed that was not given (by the Election Commission)," Rahul Gandhi said during a press conference at the Congress headquarters, Indira Bhawan.
He further demanded that the ECI release the requested data within 1 week, as the Karnataka EC has also asked for the data, but no reply was given.The Opposition parties have been repeatedly claiming that the Election Commission of India, colluding with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is deleting and adding fraudulent votes in the voter rolls in various elections.