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Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu leads protest against Rahul’s detention, targets BJP
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said the protest was against the BJP-led government’s attempts to suppress democratic voices.
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The Himachal Pradesh Congress on Wednesday held a protest at Lok Bhavan in Shimla against the detention of Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, alleging that the BJP-led government at the Centre was attempting to undermine democracy.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said the protest was against the BJP-led government’s attempts to suppress democratic voices.
“Rahul Gandhi had become the voice of the people, and his voice cannot be suppressed, Sukhu said, while demanding the resignation of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The chief minister said that the Congress had strengthened democracy over the past 77 years and alleged that the same democratic system, which enabled Narendra Modi to become Prime Minister, was now being undermined through “vote theft”.
Sukhu said Congress workers and leaders across Himachal Pradesh were holding demonstrations to protest Gandhi’s detention and to “defend” democracy.
State Congress president Vinay Kumar said the party would take the issue to people across the country and organise a major gathering at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on November 1, followed by a month-long campaign to reach villages and make people aware of what the party alleges was ‘vote theft’.
He said the memorandum submitted in Himachal Pradesh was aimed at highlighting the “injustice to voters and an attempt to weaken the Constitution”.
Deputy chief minister Mukesh Agnihotri, said that Gandhi was detained while fighting to uphold the spirit of democracy and raise concerns over alleged irregularities in the electoral process.
It’s politics of convenience: Kashyap
Former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state chief and MP Suresh Kashyap slammed the Congress, accusing it of indulging in “politics of convenience” in its opposition to the election commission and the special intensive revision (SIR).
“The Congress party has a peculiar definition of democracy. If Congress wins an election, the election commission, the electoral process, and democracy are all deemed fine, however, where the public rejects Congress, questions are raised against the EC,” he said.
He said this is not an act of protecting democracy but rather an attempt to shift the blame for repeated electoral defeats onto constitutional institutions.
BJP state in-charge Shrikant Sharma said the Congress has every democratic right to raise questions and place evidence before the election commission, but attacking a constitutional institution merely for political gains raises serious questions about the party’s approach.
Sharma said the SIR purpose of electoral-roll revision is to verify and update voter lists. “If Congress has evidence that any eligible voter has been wrongly excluded, it should place specific cases and evidence before the EC and pursue the remedies available under election law,” he said.
