Rahul Gandhi peddling lies on SIR to cover Congress poll defeats: Amit Shah

NEW DELHI: Going on the offensive amid opposition's stir against special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Union home minister Amit Shah Tuesday accused Rahul Gandhi of fabricating lies about the exercise to hide his failure resulting in a string of Congress defeats, and to protect "infiltrators" who have been registered as voters. "You and not SIR is responsible for Congress's defeats. Since you emerged as the main leader of Congress and then became its president and the leader of opposition, Congress has continuously lost elections. You should introspect," he said, asking the main opposition party and its allies to prepare themselves for a fourth consecutive defeat in the 2029 Lok Sabha polls. "In many states you have not been able to win election for decades," Shah said, citing Congress's barren electoral performance in a number of states, including in Gujarat, Tripura, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, while SIR had started only after 2024. This is the first time Shah has taken on the opposition, which has been trying to ratchet up pressure for CEC Gyanesh Kumar's resignation through its street campaigns in the national capital, and signalled a determined intent of the BJP brass to challenge its opponents' allegation that Election Commission (EC) is working to benefit the party in polls. The framing of opposition's protests as an attempt to cover "infiltrators" is significant, as BJP has for long accused its opponents of helping illegal immigrants from Bangladesh as well as Rohingya from Myanmar getting registered as voters as part of their "votebank" politics. With opposition parties coming together, BJP and JD(U) held a joint press conference where Union minister Piyush Goyal dared opposition-run govts in different states to quit if it considered polls following SIR rigged. Union minister and JD(U) functionary Lalan Singh said the entire campaign is not for saving democracy but weakening it by targeting constitutional institutions and trying to stoke anarchy through street protests. The two ministers echoed Shah on Congress's poor show in UP, Bihar and Tamil Nadu for decades, and said it is not even a key party in vast swathes of the country.Shah: BJP victories in ballot paper civic polls lesson for Rahul Union home minister Amit Shah's sharp comments came after BJP notched up another facile win in three local body polls in Gujarat, leaving Congress far behind. Aam Aadmi Party lost deposits in all 32 seats it contested in Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation, he noted. This win coupled with BJP and its allies' similar impressive show in local body polls in Tripura and Rajasthan, besides in the recent assembly and LS bypolls, demonstrated that people of the country are standing with PM Modi, BJP, and NDA like a rock, Shah said.

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Many of these polls were held through ballot papers, he said, as the opposition has often blamed EVMs for its losses. "These elections are a lesson for Rahul Gandhi... You (Rahul) cannot win the confidence of people by fabricated media events, 'jhooth ki goonj'," Shah said, riffing on Rahul's "Chhatron ki Goonj" outreach to students in different cities. Mocking the opposition's march in New Delhi on Monday, he said Rahul Gandhi cannot become the voice of the people by mobilising cadres of 14 parties to collect a crowd of 8,000 through a distance of 1.5km. They have no reach in the vast hinterland, he added. "Your negative politics will not benefit you. You should connect with people," he added.

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