New Delhi:Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has no right to talk about democracy as his grandmother and former prime minister Indira Gandhi put lakhs of people in jail and banned political parties during the Emergency, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday.
He hit back at INDIA bloc parties over their ‘Loktantra Bachao’ (save democracy) rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on Sunday, saying “no matter how many parties you gather, only (Narendra) Modi is going to come” as prime minister post-elections.The one who commits corruption will be behind bars, the home minister asserted at a meeting of the party’s ‘Shakti Kendra Pramukh’ in Jodhpur.
The people of the country are ready to make Narendra Modi the prime minister for a third time, he said, adding India will become the third largest economy during his next term.
Shah’s reaction came a day after top INDIA bloc leaders exhorted the people to defeat the BJP to save democracy and the Constitution and alleged that the opposition has been deprived of a level-playing field in the Lok Sabha elections due to the government’s “dictatorial” actions.
In his address at the rally, Rahul Gandhi had accused Prime Minister Modi of trying to do “match-fixing” in the Lok Sabha polls and warned that if the BJP wins the election through this endeavour and “changes” the Constitution, then the whole country would be “finished”.
The BJP’s Monday event at the Polo Ground here was attended by party workers from Jodhpur, Pali, Jalore-Sirohi and Jaisalmer-Barmer Lok Sabha constituencies.
“They said ‘save democracy’. What happened to democracy? The people of the country are going to vote. Why are you talking about saving democracy, because your leaders have gone to jail. If they commit scams worth Rs 12 lakh-crore, will they go to jail or not?” Shah said.
“Rahul Baba, whoever indulges in corruption will be behind bars.” he said. “You have no right to talk about democracy.” “It was your grandmother, who sent lakhs of people behind bars and banned political parties. So you have no moral right to talk about democracy”, Shah said.
“These are the people who indulge in appeasement politics. In the last five years, religious places were attacked at various places in Rajasthan and many people were killed,” he said.
The Congress was in power in Rajasthan before the 2023 elections.
Shah said justice will be done to all and there will be no appeasement under the BJP rule. “Rajasthan is going to follow this path.” The home minister said the BJP government in Rajasthan led by Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma has sent paper leak case accused to jail.
Talking about the Lok Sabha elections, he said the BJP has set the target to win more than 370 seats itself and over 400 for the NDA. But this cannot be achieved by a leader because the BJP is a party that wins elections on the strength workers, he said.