“Constitution torn up, fighting to restore democracy in country”: Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi, October 13
Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said the INDIA blocs protest against alleged electoral irregularities had a singular objective of restoring democracy in the country.
Addressing the gathering after a high tea meeting at his residence with INDIA bloc leaders, opposition MPs and student organisations, Gandhi accused the government of undermining democratic institutions and said the opposition would jointly fight to restore democratic rule.
There is no parallel protest; there is one singular protest, and the protest has one mission: the restoration of democracy in India. Democracy has been destroyed, the Election Commission is destroyed, the Constitution is torn up and thrown away. We are fighting together to restore democratic rule in this country,” Gandhi said.
He also said the opposition would challenge the governments decision to restrict the use of Jantar Mantar as a protest site for expressing democratic dissent.
He said, One method of democracy was Jantar Mantar, but now the government has decided that Jantar Mantar can no longer be used to express democratic feeling, and we are going to challenge that idea. It cannot be so simple for the government to decide that the Indian people will not fight for their voice.”
He alleged PM Narendra Modi as the main “architect”, Home Minister Amit Shah as the “implementer” of destroying the Indian Constitution.
The people who have done this: Modi, the main architect; Amit Shah, the implementer; and Gyanesh Kumar. They need to understand that the net is closing around them. It is not going to be so simple that you can destroy the Indian Constitution and get away with it, Gandhi said.
After the meeting, Kerala Minister Ramesh Chennithala said the INDIA bloc and the Congress would continue their fight against the Election Commission, alleging that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had damaged the electoral process.
We will continue with the fight because Gyanesh Kumar has completely ruined the election process. INDIA alliance and the Congress party will fight to the last. One thing is very clear: everybody is united, and we will fight against the misdeeds of the Central Government and especially Gyanesh Kumar,” Chennithala said.
He also alleged that a file concerning Kumars alleged misconduct and corruption during his tenure as Public Works Department (PWD) secretary in Kerala around 20 years ago was being examined by the state government.
I received an application regarding the misconduct and corrupt activities of Gyanesh Kumar 20 years back when he was a PWD secretary in Kerala. We are going into the details of the file. In the file, it is very clear that he is involved in various corrupt activities,” he alleged.
Now, the Kerala government has decided to unearth all these things, and in the coming days, after going into the details, we will take a strong view on these corrupt activities of Gyanesh Kumar. It is already with the Director and the Anti-Corruption Bureau of Kerala, Chennithala added. (ANI)