Stale, troubling: Congress slams PMs I-Day speech

NEW DELHI: Terming his Independence Day address stale, hypocritical, and troubling, the Congress on Friday lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for praising the RSS in the speech, alleging that the ruling BJP is ready to go to any extent of immorality to remain in power, and that several irregularities in elections are emerging across the country. After hoisting the national flag at the Congress headquarters, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that oppositions votes are being openly cut in the name of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar electoral rolls, even as those alive are being declared dead. LoP in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, and Kharge skipped the Independence Day speech,drawing criticism from the BJP. The Congress chief said the most surprising thing was that the BJP has had no objection to the votes of 65 lakh people being cut. This clearly shows who benefited from the SIR exercise, he said. This is not a fight to win elections but to save Indias democracy and protect the Constitution, Kharge said, referring to the Congresss opposition to the SIR exercise. Those who are alive have been declared as dead. ECs impartiality can be understood from the fact that it is not ready to share whose votes are being cut and on what basis, he said. Kharge also claimed that central investigation agencies like ED and CBI, and the Income Tax department have been used so openly for political purposes against the opponents that the Supreme Court of the country has to show them the mirror. In a statement, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the most troubling element of Modis speech was his name-checking of the RSS, which was a blatant breach of the spirit of a constitutional, secular republic.