Rahul Gandhi’s Form 6 allegations draw sharp BJP response

The BJP attacked Rahul Gandhi over his criticism of the Election Commission and SIR, accusing him of spreading misinformation. Gandhi had questioned an alleged change to online Form 6, while Congress leader Jairam Ramesh attributed the change to the PM-HM duo

New Delhi: The BJP on Thursday hit out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his criticism of the Election Commission and the government on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, with senior party leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar accusing him of relying on “lies and misinformation”.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters, Chandrasekhar said Gandhi was “neither a protector of secularism, nor is he a protector of the Constitution” and accused him of protecting his “own family interest”.

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He also criticised Gandhi for calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “deshdrohi”, describing the remark as a sign of what he called “fake and inauthentic politics” designed to mislead people.

Gandhi on Thursday alleged that the online version of Form 6, used for fresh voter registration, had been changed “illegally” and asked who at the Election Commission ordered Tata Consultancy Services to make the change and who at the company signed off on it.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh alleged that the change was orchestrated by “the PM-HM duo”.

Hitting back, Chandrasekhar said, “Rahul Gandhi is a pre-eminent fraudster in Indian politics. Rahul Gandhi is an inauthentic politician who relies on lies and misinformation without any positive agenda to conduct his politics.”

Gandhi had a pattern of creating stories and spreading misinformation, he alleged.

“He is a living, breathing practitioner of the philosophy of Joseph Goebbels, who was Adolf Hitler’s propaganda minister,” Chandrasekhar said.

He also referred to Gandhi’s earlier allegations concerning EVMs and the electoral process, saying they had been “proved to be wrong”.

Chandrasekhar accused Gandhi of “hypocrisy and double standards” on the SIR of electoral rolls.

“Rahul Gandhi says Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar is a BJP agent. He says the SIR process is against democracy while the sitting home minister of the Congress government in Keralam has publicly acknowledged how SIR was responsible for weeding out bogus voters from the state’s electoral rolls,” he said.

Gandhi’s own party “recognises and accepts” that the SIR was important to ensure the integrity of electoral rolls and free and fair elections, the BJP leader claimed.

“The chief electoral officer, who conducted the SIR in Keralam, is PS (private secretary) to the chief minister,” Chandrasekhar said.

“Should the BJP say that he is an agent of the Congress? We will not. We know what lines should be crossed and what lines should not be crossed in a democracy. But Rahul Gandhi does not have such compulsion,” he added.

Chandrasekhar also accused Gandhi of claiming that the country’s youth was dissatisfied with the Modi government while positioning himself as a “messiah and protector” of their rights.

He said Gandhi had omitted to mention the state of India’s labour force when the Congress-led government left office in 2014 and alleged that Kerala had the country’s highest unemployment.

Chandrasekhar said the Modi government had provided opportunities for skilling and entrepreneurship over the past 12 years.

The BJP leader also accused Gandhi of repeatedly making “baseless” corruption allegations, referring to the Rafale deal, Pegasus and the Justice Loya case.

“Everything went to the court system and everything was exposed as being a lie,” he said.

Chandrasekhar concluded by describing Gandhi’s politics as “lie 100 per cent, falsehood 100 per cent and also being exposed 100 per cent”.