Following the recent rally held by the opposition INDIA bloc at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi, the Bharatiya Janata Party has launched a counter-offensive across multiple regions. The party has rolled out extensive marches under its campaign titled Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy across the national capital, Bihar, West Bengal, and Hyderabad. As part of this political outreach, Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrived in Hyderabad on Monday, where he led a major march and mounted a direct attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, invoking a classic proverb about blaming tools for one's own shortcomings and daring him to participate in a parliamentary debate regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists.
Temple Visit and the Commencement of the March
Upon arriving in Hyderabad on Monday, the Union Home Minister first offered prayers at the historic Bhagya Lakshmi temple. He subsequently flagged off the march from the Nizam College grounds. The BJP organized this mass demonstration to counter allegations leveled by the Congress party regarding the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. While addressing the gathering, Amit Shah highlighted historical milestones of the region, asserting that had the then Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel not compelled the Nizam to surrender, Hyderabad would not have been part of the Indian Union today.
Critique of Opposition Rally and Breakdown of Electoral Data
Referring to the opposition rally organized in Delhi a day earlier, the Home Minister asserted that while the opposition labeled it an effort to protect voting rights, it was effectively an attempt to shield illegal infiltrators. He claimed that the Congress party seeks to stall the voter list revision process specifically to preserve Bangladeshi infiltrators within the voter registry as an electoral base. He declared that regardless of the opposition's resistance, the government remains committed to identifying and removing every single illegal infiltrator from both the electoral rolls and the country, emphasizing that voting rights belong solely to legitimate citizens of India.
Amit Shah dismissed the claim made by Rahul Gandhi that 130 million votes were eliminated under the pretext of the revision exercise, describing the allegation as completely unfounded. Providing a detailed breakdown of the numbers, he explained that out of the 130 million entries, approximately 62.5 million voters had relocated to different places of residence, asking whether any citizen should legally hold voting privileges in two separate jurisdictions. Furthermore, 28 million individuals on the registry were confirmed to have passed away, making their removal an essential and lawful administrative requirement. Another 10 million entries were identified as duplicates, which are automatically eliminated under election rules, while 30 million names did not exist at all, representing fraudulent entries tied to illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators.
Electoral Victories and Critique of the Mock Parliament
The Home Minister also refuted allegations that the ruling party secures electoral victories solely through electoral roll revisions. He pointed out that when Narendra Modi was first elected Prime Minister in 2014, no nationwide Special Intensive Revision had taken place. Similarly, when the party secured an expanded mandate in 2019, the election was conducted without such an exercise. He underscored that these victories were made possible by the trust of Indian voters rather than administrative procedures, enabling the party to win successive state assembly elections.
Addressing the mock parliament staged two days prior by Rahul Gandhi, Amit Shah remarked that had the Congress leader consulted him, he would have advised him to assume the role of prime minister in that simulated assembly rather than remaining the leader of the opposition. He commented that since Rahul Gandhi would not attain the prime ministerial office in the actual Parliament, he might as well occupy it in a simulated setting. He accused the Congress leader of carrying copies of the Constitution without demonstrating respect for its obligations, which must be fulfilled through legislative proceedings. Amit Shah noted that while the government is prepared to convene a special parliamentary session, the opposition tends to evade constructive participation in favor of creating disruption.
Rebuttal of Electronic Voting Machine Allegations
Turning to recurring allegations concerning Electronic Voting Machines, the Union Home Minister criticized what he termed the opposition's inconsistent standards. He observed that whenever the ruling party wins elections, the opposition routinely attributes the outcome to compromised voting machines. He questioned how Revanth Reddy assumed office as Chief Minister in Telangana, and how opposition administrations were established in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Himachal Pradesh if EVMs were indeed malfunctioning. Amit Shah argued that if the machines were truly compromised, opposition leaders should have declined to take their oaths of office, noting that the opposition credits the electorate only when it wins while blaming machines whenever it suffers an electoral defeat.
