Rahul, Cong part of conspiracy to foist ultra-left regime on India: Fadnavis

Addressing participants of the ruling Mahayuti’s ‘Loktantra Bachao, Arajakata Hatao’ (Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy) march in Thane, Fadnavis claimed that the Opposition was using the Constitution as a shield while systematically discrediting constitutional institutions to pave the way for “China-influenced rule”

Mumbai: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday alleged that the Congress and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi were part of a conspiracy funded by foreign powers, especially China, to create political anarchy and foist an ultra-leftist or communist regime on India.

The Mahayuti organised ’Loktantra Bachav Padyatra’ in Thane on Sunday to counter the rally in Delhi convened by the Opposition INDIA bloc, seeking the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged election malpractices (Praful Gangurde / HT Photo)

Addressing participants of the ruling Mahayuti’s ‘Loktantra Bachao, Arajakata Hatao’ (Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy) march in Thane, Fadnavis claimed that the Opposition was using the Constitution as a shield while systematically discrediting constitutional institutions to pave the way for “China-influenced rule”.

The Mahayuti march was organised to counter the rally in Delhi convened by the Opposition INDIA bloc, seeking the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged election malpractices. Participants in the march included top leaders from the BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, which have been at loggerheads in the recent past over various issues, including losses in the legislative council elections and the murder of Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Pradeep Purnekar.

Fadnavis raised concerns over Rahul Gandhi’s recent trip to Vietnam and Thailand and wondered why the Congress and trusts controlled by the party were getting funding from China, which he said had been trying to infiltrate areas along India’s border.

“Using this red book, conspiracies are being hatched to change our Constitution, as they did in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka,” Fadnavis said.

The Congress’ strategy, Fadnavis alleged, was to hold the red Constitution in one hand and, with the other, discredit every institution established under Dr. BR Ambedkar’s Constitution. “They know that if they directly call the Constitution bad, people will reject them. Therefore, they are claiming that the institutions established by the Constitution are corrupt and ineffective. They have been claiming that institutions like the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) and CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) are bad, have abused the ECI (Election Commission of India) in Parliament and have claimed that decisions cannot be taken in Parliament. Now they are abusing the country’s Supreme Court. They are taking out a protest march against it. This is what anarchy looks like,” Fadnavis said.

The chief minister warned the Congress and Rahul Gandhi that while they appeared to be fighting against Modi, their battle had turned into a fight against the Constitution. He also accused the Congress of hypocrisy on constitutional safeguards, alleging that in 1975, Indira Gandhi amended the Constitution in such a way that no court would be able to deliver a verdict on elections. He said the Congress was the first to undermine the Constitution and democracy.

“You accuse us of vote theft, but you have stolen the Constitution itself. The constitutional amendments carried out by the Congress under Indira Gandhi froze the fundamental rights given by Dr. BR Ambedkar. The fundamental rights destroyed by the Congress were restored by the Janata Party in 1977. We, the ruling parties, have taken to the streets to stop these Constitution thieves from damaging our Constitution,” he said.

Fadnavis also defended the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The Congress, he said, must explain why it was troubled when the names of 25 million deceased people were removed from the electoral rolls.

“Does the Congress believe that living people do not vote and that only deceased people will vote? Is that why it wants their names to remain on the electoral rolls? SIR was conducted eight times previously during Congress rule. The difference between the earlier SIR exercises and the present one is that earlier, representatives of political parties were not involved in the SIR process. But this time, booth-level agents have been appointed at every polling booth and political parties have been given the authority to point out incorrect entries,” he said.

The chief minister said that out of the 20 constituencies in West Bengal where the highest number of names had been deleted under the SIR ahead of the assembly polls last year, the Trinamool Congress had won 13 seats and no voter had raised any objection to the deletion of their names.

“The Congress is upset because Bangladeshi infiltrators have been removed from the electoral rolls. We will not allow a single Bangladeshi infiltrator to have voting rights in the country,” Fadnavis said.

Deputy chief minister and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde accused the Opposition of spreading false narratives and challenged Rahul Gandhi to provide evidence of alleged vote theft. Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav and several state ministers participated in the event.

Responding to the allegations levelled during the Mahayuti rally, Congress state president Harshwardhan Sapkal accused Fadnavis of undermining the Constitution, making false allegations and coming to power through vote theft and political defections.

“Law and order in Maharashtra has completely collapsed. If you are levelling charges of Chinese funding against the Congress protest, it reflects your government’s inability to govern. The union home ministry is under your party’s control, yet you continue to talk about foreign funding,” he said.

Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar dared Fadnavis to produce proof of foreign funding.