Amit Shah refutes Opposition's 'vote chori' charges in Lok Sabha; Rahul Gandhi challenges him to debate
Speaking during the discussion on electoral reforms in Lok Sabha, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the BJP-led Centre had not agreed to the Opposition's demands for a debate on the SIR due to technical reasons. For two days, we told the Opposition that this should be discussed later, after two Sessions. But they didn't relent. We agreed...Why did we say 'No'? There were two reasons for the 'No'. One, they wanted a discussion on SIR. I am very clear that there cannot be a discussion on SIR in this House. SIR is the responsibility of the Election Commission. India's EC and CEC do not work under the Government. If discussion is held and questions are raised, who will answer it? the minister said. When they said that they are ready to discuss electoral reforms, we agreed immediately... he added. He also refuted allegations of vote chori raised by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi. In his press conference, the LoP levelled allegations that the voter list is not corrected and needs to be rectified. So, what is SIR? It is the procedure to sanitise the voter list...Double standards won't work in a democracy. When you win, EC is great. When you lose, EC is useless and works at BJP's behest... Amit Shah said. Intervening during the speech, Rahul Gandhi said, It's a good idea. Let's have a debate on my press conferences...Amit Shah ji, I challenge you to have a debate on my press conferences. Targeting the Congress, Amit Shah cited three instances of alleged vote chori by Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. Post Independence, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was backed by 28 persons while Jawaharlal Nehru by two persons and yet Nehru became the prime minister, this was vote chori, he said. The minister said that the second vote chori was by Indira Gandhi, when she granted herself immunity after court set aside her election. He said the dispute of third vote chori has just reached civil courts on how Sonia Gandhi became a voter before becoming citizen of India. Congress MP KC Venugopal slammed the remark noting that Shah has commented on a matter pending in the court. The court dismissed the plea saying there was no substance in it, Venugopal said. He asserted that Sonia Gandhi had not voted before becoming a citizen and challenged Amit Shah to prove it wrong. Further training his guns on the Congress, Shah alleged that the reason for its poll losses was its leadership. If someone asks a question in a presser he is dubbed as a BJP agent, if they lose a case, they accuse the judge, if they lose an election, they blame EVMs. Now when EVM blame does not hold, they brought up vote chori...still they lost Bhar. Now the reason for your defeat is your leadership and not EVM or voters' list, the home minister said. They think no one holds them accountable, 'bhagwan kare, I am proved wrong and one day Congress workers seek their accountability, he said. Shah also accused the Opposition of spreading falsehoods on SIR and launched a strong defence of the exercise, asking whether democracy can be safe when the prime minister and the chief ministers are decided by infiltrators. He alleged the Opposition gets angry when we talk of history, but how can any country or society move forward without history. The first SIR was conducted in 1952, when Jawaharlal Nehru was the prime minister and the Congress was in power. Then it happened in 1957 when Nehru was there, the third happened in 1961 and Nehru was there. Then it happened during Lal Bahadur Shastri's time, then again during Indira Gandhi's time, Rajiv Gandhi's time, Narasimha Rao's time, and then in 2002 during Atal Bihari Vajpayee's time which continued till Manmohan Singh's time, he said. No party had opposed this process because it is a process of keeping elections clean and keeping democracy healthy, Shah said. He said the objective of the SIR of electoral rolls is to remove those who have died, add the names of those who have turned 18 and delete foreign nationals one by one. I want to say to the House and people -- Can a country's democracy be safe when the prime minister and the chief minister are decided by 'ghuspathiye', Shah said. The BJP leader said the Opposition thinks that it is tarnishing the image of the government but in reality they are tarnishing the image of India's democracy. They kept on doing vote chori, vote chori, and took out 'ghuspathiye bachao yatra' and we won by 2/3rd majority in Bihar, he alleged. The new tradition is that if they lose, they defame the EC and electoral rolls which is not good for the country's democracy. If electoral rolls were corrupted, why did you contest elections, Shah asked the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. He said the BJP has lost more elections than it has won, but it never questioned the Election Commission. EVMs stopped election chori and that is why they are worried. Their method of election was not mandate but corrupt practices, and they have been fully exposed, he said. Opposition worried as people of country do not vote for them and SIR will delete names of illegal immigrants who back them, he said. When the opposition MPs walked out later, Shah said no matter how many times the Opposition boycotts, the NDA will continue with its policy of detect, delete and deport 'ghuspathiye'. The Opposition wants to normalise and formalise the 'ghuspathiye' and add them in the electoral rolls, he said. (With inputs from PTI)
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