New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “match-fixing” the Lok Sabha elections as he spoke at the INDIA bloc rally in Delhi's Ramlila Maiden.
The opposition alliance has gathered in the national capital for Loktantra Bachao (Save Democracy) rally against the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Addressing the INDIA bloc's 'Save Democracy' rally at the Ramlila Maidan here, the former Congress chief said this is not an ordinary election but one to save the country's democracy and Constitution.
"When pressure is put on umpires and captain, players are bought off and the match is won, in cricket, it is called match-fixing. We have Lok Sabha polls before us. Who selected the umpires? Before the match started, two players were arrested... Narendra Modi is trying to do match-fixing in these polls," Gandhi said.
The BJP is raising the slogan of getting 400 seats, but without EVMs, match-fixing, pressure on opposition leaders and buying media, they will not be able to cross even 180 seats, he claimed. Gandhi said the Congress is the biggest opposition party and all its accounts have been frozen.
"Two chief ministers were arrested. What kind of election is this," Gandhi alleged, adding, "Match-fixing is being done by PM Modi along with three-four billionaires. This is being done to snatch the Constitution from the poor." The Constitution is the voice of the people and the day it is finished, this country will be finished, he asserted, adding if the Constitution goes, the rights of the poor and reservation will also go.
"A BJP MP said 'we will change the Constitution when we get over 400 seats'. It was not said just like that, it was to test the idea," Gandhi said, referring to Anantkumar Hegde's remark about amending the Constitution. "They think the country can be run with the threats and intimidation of police, CBI and ED... You can buy media and suppress them but you cannot suppress the voice of India. No force in this world can suppress this voice of people," the former Congress chief said.
He claimed that If the BJP wins the election through match-fixing and changes the Constitution, then the country would not be saved and "there will be fire everywhere". "This election is not just about votes it is to save the country and the Constitution," Gandhi asserted.
Speaking at the rally, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused Prime Minister Modi "misusing institutions" to threaten opposition parties, leaders to form BJP governments in states.
"There can't be prosperity in the country until we remove PM Modi, his ideology. BJP, RSS like poison, don't taste it. They have destroyed the country," the Congress president said at the rally. "We need to unite, only then we will be able to fight; we won't succeed if we keep attacking each other," Kharge said.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also hit out at the BJP-led Central government as she spoke during the INDIA bloc's 'Loktantra Bachao' rally. "I want to tell those sitting in power, I want to remind PM Modi the message of Lord Ram: power does not last forever, power comes and goes; ego is shattered one day. This was the message of Lord Ram and his life."
The Election Commission, she said, should ensure level-playing field for all parties in Lok Sabha polls.
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