Ahmedabad: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge slammed the BJP for allegedly winning the Maharashtra assembly polls through "fraud" and called for a return to ballot paper voting. Addressing the AICC session, he also accused the Modi government of "selling off" public assets to crony capitalists, eroding democracy.
“The whole world is moving from EVMs to ballot paper, but we are using EVMs. This is all fraud. They ask us to prove it. You have devised such techniques that benefit the ruling party and put the opposition at a disadvantage,” Kharge said.
But the youngsters of this country will rise and “say we want ballot paper”, he said in his inaugural address at the session being held here on the banks of the Sabarmati River.
Kharge claims the BJP secured 90% of the seats, an unprecedented feat, and accuses them of undermining democracy. The Congress party had raised concerns over voter list irregularities, with Rahul Gandhi strongly questioning the election.
Kharge said in the last 11 years, the ruling party has been attacking the Constitution.
“Constitutional institutions and principles are being attacked, and we have to fight to protect them,” Kharge said.
He alleged that the government ran Parliament's budget session according to their whims and fancies.
Kharge criticises the government for silencing the Leader of Opposition, calling it "shameful in a democracy". He accuses them of diverting attention from key issues to communal polarisation, specifically referencing the Waqf (Amendment) Bill debate.
He pointed out that the debate on Manipur took place at 4 am, and he requested that it be held the next day, but the government did not agree. Kharge said and alleged that it seems the government wants to hide something.
“Democracy is being finished slowly, slowly, slowly,” Kharge alleged.
He said the opposition was not allowed to raise in Parliament the issue of the imposition of tariffs by the US.
He said a monopoly is being established with resources being handed to a few crony capitalists.
Kharge also alleged that SC, ST and OBC reservations were being finished through privatisation.
“If this continues, the Modi government and Modi will sell off the whole country and go,” he alleged.
Kharge accused the BJP-RSS of raising 500-year-old issues to fan communalism.
He also lashed out at the BJP for having an "anti-Dalit mindset" after its leader sprinkled Ganga water at a Ram temple in Rajasthan's Alwar to "purify" it following Congress' Tikaram Jully's participation in the consecration ceremony there.
Kharge also made a strong pitch for a nationwide caste census and alleged that Prime Minister Modi uses OBC status for political gains but does not take steps for their welfare.
The Congress president also slammed the government over increasing excise duty on petrol and diesel and hiking the price of LPG cylinders.
Countering the BJP's high-pitched campaign of invoking nationalist figures to rally support, the Congress on Tuesday asserted its claim on the legacy of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India's first deputy prime minister, whose path it pledged to follow in the "ideological war" with the BJP-RSS.
(inputs from PTI)