Lucknow/New Delhi: Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Friday attacked the Opposition Congress over protests against chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, accusing it of trying to seize power by spreading anarchy, even as the party hit back, saying it wanted to defeat the BJP through democratic means and not extra-constitutional methods.
Congress MP Pawan Khera rejected the allegations, accusing the BJP of treating protests as anti-national when it faced public criticism. “The BJP is not used to democracy when it is on the receiving end of it. “They openly say at press conferences that they have drawn inspiration from Bangladesh for regime change, while another speaks openly about bringing down the government. “How does regime change happen in a democracy like India? Through elections.
This makes it clear that their only agenda is to dismantle democratic institutions and set the country on fire,” he said, referring to the uprising in Bangladesh in 2024 that toppled the Sheikh Hasina government. Khera said the Opposition wanted to change the government through elections, citing the change of government in 1977 after the Emergency.
When it has to face the heat of democracy, answer questions and confront protests, democracy suddenly begins to look like treason and anti-national activity to them,” he said. “It appears that the Congress and its political allies, directly and through their supporting organisations, are trying to use the energy of the youth to fuel political confrontation and spread anarchy instead of channelling it towards constructive work and nation-building,” he said. “The youth of the country are being made pawns in the politics of anarchy,” he added. Changing the regime through elections is precisely the Opposition’s objective,” he said.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh invoked former president Pranab Mukherjee’s words on the Opposition’s role.
“The Defence Minister needs to be reminded of what the former President Pranab Mukherjee, who was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 2019, would often say: the job of the Opposition in a democracy is to oppose, expose and depose,” he said.
Referring to the Emergency in 1975, he said, “In 1975 [Prime Minister] Indira Gandhi put democracy behind bars [during the state of Emergency]. Why is the BJP standing behind him and shielding Kumar?
Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Aradhana Misra Mona said, “I fail to understand why the BJP is defending an individual who has undermined this country’s democracy and constitutional order — someone who has shaken the very foundation of our democracy — the right to vote. Singh, meanwhile, said the Congress was hurting the Constitution, constitutional values and institutions. Today Rahul Gandhi keeps the Constitution in his pocket and tries to spread anarchy.”
