Daijiworld Media Network - Nagpur
Nagpur, Sep 27: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday criticised Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over what he described as “unwarranted and unfounded” allegations against the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
Fadnavis alleged that while the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha may be seen “waving the Constitution”, his actual agenda was to “defame and discredit the constitutional institutions”.
Taking a direct swipe at the Opposition’s campaign against the SIR exercise, Fadnavis said, “No votes were stolen during SIR, but it is Rahul Gandhi's mind that has been stolen.”
Speaking to reporters, the Chief Minister alleged that Gandhi’s objective was to malign constitutional institutions and create distrust among people towards them.
“He wants to create a system where people lose faith in these institutions, leading to anarchy in the country. Once the public begins to believe that the existing constitutional framework cannot deliver justice, these institutions will be steered towards a leftist ideology. This is a well-planned strategy by Rahul Gandhi,” Fadnavis said.
He also sought to counter the Opposition’s allegations by citing electoral data and the outcome of elections in West Bengal.
“I want to ask a question. In the West Bengal elections, there were at least 15 constituencies where, despite a massive drop in votes due to SIR, the TMC emerged victorious. If anti-BJP votes were being deleted via SIR, how did the TMC manage to win in those areas?” he asked.
Fadnavis said the SIR process provided an opportunity for voters and other stakeholders to raise objections over electoral-roll entries before the appropriate authorities.
“If the name of an eligible voter has been left out, you can file an objection. If a person's name should not be on the list, an objection can be raised against that as well. Yet, you do nothing during this process, even though you are aware that it is underway,” he said.
The Chief Minister said that even if minor errors affected five to 10 per cent of cases and resulted in a voter’s name being omitted, the individual could still file an objection at a later stage.
Taking another swipe at Gandhi, Fadnavis said the Opposition was unwilling to participate in the process and was instead seeking to create a controversy.
“You do not want to participate in the process; you only want to create a ruckus. You realise that the public is not accepting you and you lack substantive issues, which is why such manufactured issues are being raised,” he said.
Fadnavis further escalated his criticism by saying, “I want to state very clearly - no votes have been stolen, it is Rahul Gandhi's mind that has been stolen.”
He added that he would request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to constitute a committee to “find his mind and return it to him”, so that Gandhi could speak in the national interest and say what was right and true.