Sasaram/Aurangabad: Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Sunday launched a 1,300-km-long ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ from Sasaram, Bihar, with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and other ‘Mahagatbandhan’ (grand coalition) leaders in attendance.
Rahul Gandhi and the other coalition leaders alleged that the Election Commission was working hand-in-glove with the BJP to manipulate voter rolls and “steal” elections.
The Voter Adhikar Yatra, spread across more than 21 districts, is the Mahagatbandhan’s coordinated campaign to highlight what it calls “vote chori” through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.
Addressing the rally, Rahul claimed that elections across the country were being subverted through deliberate tampering.
“The BJP is altering names in Bihar’s electoral rolls to fix the Assembly polls. When I exposed this manipulation, I was asked to file an affidavit, but BJP leader Anurag Thakur who made similar claims faced no such demand from the poll panel.”
“The Election Commission is openly siding with them,” the former Congress chief said, adding that the INDIA bloc would fight to ensure people’s voting rights were protected.
Meanwhile, Tejashwi Yadav also addressed the mega rally and targetted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the poll panel.
Yadav said, “Narendra Modi has ruined the lives of Bihar’s youth, and the Election Commission is helping him cheat voters. Do not think of Biharis as weak.”
Invoking socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia and Babasaheb Ambedkar, Tejashwi said the Constitution made every citizen’s vote equal, whether rich or poor.
Claiming that the BJP-led government posed a direct threat to the Constitution, Kharge said, “As long as Modi-led government stays, people’s rights are unsafe. Even the vote is not secure, and the Election Commission is behaving like an extension of the ruling party.”
In Aurangabad, Rahul further sharpened his attack on the Nitish Kumar-led government in the state and said the state police had put up barricades to stop them from reaching the public meeting venue.
“We didn’t fear and we walked, which made the police to step back and then we reached our stage to address you all,” he said.
RJD patriarch and former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav also took pot shots at the BJP, dubbing the party as the one of “thieves” who are out there to “damage democracy”.
“They are stealing people’s votes and destroying the Constitution. Remove these thieves, unite, and defeat them. Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi must uproot them and save democracy,” Lalu said in his fiery speech.
Rahul also raised the caste census issue, accusing the Modi government of making its recent announcement under political pressure.
“They will never conduct a genuine caste census nor remove the 50 percent cap on reservations. The INDIA bloc will conduct a real census and bring down this wall of injustice,” he claimed.
The launch of the yatra saw participation from across the Opposition spectrum, with CPI(ML) Liberation’s Dipankar Bhattacharya, CPI(M)’s Subhashini Ali, CPI’s P Santosh Kumar, Pappu Yadav, KC Venugopal, Bhupesh Baghel, Krishna Allavaru, Rajesh Ram, Shakeel Ahmad, Akhilesh Pratap Singh and Vikassheel Insaan Party’s Mukesh Sahni joining the event.
During the start of the yatra from Sasaram’s Biada ground, Tejashwi drove the jeep, which has been customized in view of the journey to also carry Rahul Gandhi.
Other alliance leaders joined Rahul and Tejashwi as the procession began and soon reached to Dehri on Sone.
Both the leaders climbed on the rooftop of the car to greet the people in Dehri and then reached Aurangabad after two hours and addressed another public meeting.
The Voter Adhikar yatra will travel across Bihar over the next 16 days, with breaks scheduled for August 20, 25 and 31.
The yatra, scheduled to end in Ara, will culminate in a mega rally planned at Patna’s historic Gandhi Maidan on September 1, where Rahul Gandhi, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav and Kharge will jointly address the public.
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