'Will Congress Apologise?' Rijiju Slams Congress For Using Minta Devi's Pic For Protest

Controversy erupted after Opposition MPs, led by Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, used the image of Minta Devi, a Bihar resident, during a protest against SIR.

The protest took place while Parliament was in session.

Source : ANI

A day after Bihar's Minta Devi, the face of INDIA bloc's Tuesday's protest against 'vote chori' fumed at them for t-shirts featuring her, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday criticised the Congress party and Opposition MPs for 'mocking' her by doing so.

In a post on X, Rijiju wrote, "Whole day Congress and opposition MPs used the photo of Minta Devi, mocked her that she is 124 years old!...Will Congress apologise to the nation?"

Rijiju also took a dig at Congress's recent move to sack its Karnataka minister, KN Rajanna, after he admitted to voter list irregularities during the Congress's tenure in the state. "Congress Minister in Karnataka has also accused his own Congress Government," Rijiju wrote.

Minta Devi Controversy

Controversy erupted after Opposition MPs, led by Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, used the image of Minta Devi, a Bihar resident, during a protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls in Bihar.

The protest, held in New Delhi, featured several INDIA bloc MPs wearing T-shirts with Devi's picture and the phrase "124 not out," referring to her being erroneously listed as 124 years old on the voter list.

Minta Devi reacted strongly to this, slamming both the clerical error in the Election Commission's data and the Opposition MPs for using her image without consent. Mocking the clerical error, Devi added that if the government genuinely believed she was 124 years old, they should start giving her an old-age pension.

The protest against the SIR came amid accusations from INDIA bloc parties that the Election Commission was colluding with the ruling BJP to selectively remove voters. Their allegations are based on Rahul Gandhi's detailed presentation based on poll boy's data revealing massive discrepancies in the voter list. The poll panel, however, has denied these allegations, asserting that the voter list revision process was conducted with full transparency.

The protest took place while Parliament was in session, with Opposition MPs attempting to march to the Election Commission’s office. However, they were detained mid-way by the Delhi police.