‘Biggest Anti-National Act’: Rahul Gandhi Launches Sharp Attack On BJP, Election Commission In Parliament

He claimed this institutional capture was the RSS's primary objective following Mahatma Gandhi's assassination.

Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition, accused the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Lok Sabha of systematically seizing control of India's institutions.

Source : ANI

Launching a blistering attack in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Congress leader and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP of committing what he called the “biggest anti-national act” by allegedly orchestrating “vote chori” in collusion with the Election Commission. He charged that these actions were aimed at weakening India’s democratic foundations and destroying the very idea of the nation.

Participating in the discussion on election reforms in the Lower House, Gandhi said three key developments, in his view, clearly showed that the BJP was “directing and using” the Election Commission to damage India’s democracy.

Questions on EC Appointments and Legal Changes

The Congress leader questioned why the chief justice of India was removed from the selection panel responsible for appointing the chief election commissioner and election commissioners. He also asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were so keen on deciding who would hold the post of election commissioner.

Gandhi further alleged that in December 2023, the government changed the law to ensure that election commissioners would not be punished for any actions taken during their tenure. “No prime minister in the history of India has done this,” he said, describing it as a “gift of immunity.”

CCTV Footage, Voter Lists and Haryana Poll Claims

He also questioned the amendment allowing the destruction of CCTV footage after 45 days, suggesting it weakened transparency in the electoral process. According to Gandhi, the fallout of these changes was visible in uneven election campaigns tailored for the prime minister and irregularities in voter rolls, including a claim that a “Brazilian woman” appeared 22 times on the voter list in Haryana.

“The election of Haryana was stolen, and the theft was ensured by the Election Commission of India,” he alleged, adding that poll reforms could be easily implemented if the Commission truly intended to do so.

Laying out a set of demands, Gandhi called for machine-readable voter lists to be provided to all parties at least a month before elections, repeal of the law permitting destruction of CCTV footage after 45 days, full disclosure of the architecture of electronic voting machines (EVMs), access to EVMs for political parties, and withdrawal of legal immunity granted to election commissioners.

He warned that election commissioners should not assume they would escape accountability under the present legal framework. “We will change the law and do it retroactively,” the former Congress president said.

Gandhi asserted that India was not only the world’s largest democracy but also the greatest. “The biggest anti-national act you can do is vote chori. When you destroy the vote, you destroy the fabric of this country, you destroy modern India, you destroy the idea of India,” he said, pointing towards the treasury benches and accusing those on the government side of committing an anti-national act.

Invoking history, Gandhi recalled the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on January 30, 1948, when Nathuram Godse killed the “father of our nation” with three bullets. He said Mahatma Gandhi today remained an “uncomfortable truth” for the BJP and was no longer embraced by them.

“After Gandhiji’s assassination, the next step of the project was the wholesale capture of India’s institutional framework,” Gandhi alleged, adding that since all institutions emerge from the vote, they had become targets for control by the RSS.