Rahul said the Congress is the biggest Opposition party and all its accounts have been frozen at a time the party has to run a campaign. | Photo: PTI
PM Modi trying to do 'match-fixing' in Lok Sabha polls, alleges Rahul Gandhi
The BJP is raising the slogan of 400 seats, but without EVMs and "match-fixing" they will not be able to reach even 180 seats, he claimed
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday (March 31) accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of trying to do “match-fixing” in the Lok Sabha polls and asserted that if the BJP wins the election through this endeavour and changes the Constitution, then the whole country would be “finished”.
Addressing the INDIA bloc's 'Save Democracy' rally at the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi, the former Congress chief said this is not an ordinary election but one to save the country's democracy and Constitution.
"When pressure is put on umpires and captain, players are bought off and the match is won, in cricket, it is called match-fixing. We have Lok Sabha polls before us. Who selected the umpires? Before the match started, two players were arrested... Narendra Modi is trying to do match-fixing in these polls," Rahul said.
The BJP is raising the slogan of getting 400 seats, but without EVMs, "match-fixing", pressuring media and buying them, they will not be able to reach even 180 seats, he claimed.
‘Opposition targeted’
Rahul said the Congress is the biggest Opposition party and all its accounts have been frozen at a time the party has to run a campaign and send leaders in states amid the Lok Sabha polls.
“What kind of elections are these...governments are made to fall by using money power, leaders are threatened and arrested, Sorenji and Kejriwalji are arrested," Rahul alleged, adding that "match-fixing is being done by PM Modi along with three-four billionaires".
“It was Prime Minister Modi who appointed the Election Commission, put two chief ministers behind bars merely one or two months ahead of elections and "froze our bank accounts,” Rahul said.
This is being done to "snatch" the Constitution from the poor, he said. “The Constitution is the voice of the people and the day it is finished, this country will be finished,” he asserted, adding if the Constitution goes, the rights of the poor and reservation will also go.
‘Threat to constitution’
The country cannot be run by threats and police, and the Constitution is its heartbeat, he said. If the Constitution is finished this country will be torn apart into different states, he said, adding that this is the BJP's objective.
"They think the country can be run with the threats and intimidation of police, CBI and ED... You can buy media and suppress them but you cannot suppress the voice of India. No force in this world can suppress voice of people," the former Congress chief said.
“A BJP MP said 'we will change the Constitution when we get over 400 seats'. It was not said just like that, it was to test the idea,” Rahul said, referring to Anant Kumar Hegde's remark about amending the Constitution.
In a show of Opposition unity ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, INDIA bloc leaders came together at a 'Loktantra Bachao' rally at the Ramlila ground in New Delhi on Sunday against the backdrop of Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal's arrest.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, NCP (SP) leader Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI general secretary D Raja, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah, and Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren, among others, attended the rally.
(With agency inputs)
