New Delhi [India], December 9 (ANI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday accused the BJP-led government of “capturing institutions” including the Election Commission during the debate on Electoral Reforms in Lok Sabha and said when a Congress-led government comes to power at the Centre, it will retrospectively change the law that gives immunity to CEC and ECs against legal action for decisions taken while in office. “We will find you,” he warned.
Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, claimed that the Election Commission has no answer to the allegations he made about bogus voters on the voter lists in different states. Rahul Gandhi has held press conferences levelling “vote chori” allegations against the BJP.
Suggesting electoral reforms, he said that the Election Commission should give machine-readable voter list to political parties one month before the polls, take back guidelines on destruction of video footage after 45 days, “give us access to Electronic Voting Machines” and see its architecture and change the law about the composition of the committee which selects the Chief Election Commissioner and ECs.
“Change the law that allows the Election Commissioner to get away with whatever they want to do. I want to assure the Election Commissioner, they might be under the impression that the law lets them get away with it. Let me remind them, don’t worry, we are going to change the law retrospectively and we will come and find you,” he said.
Clause 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 provides the Chief Election Commissioner and CEC and Election Commissioners (ECs) immunity from any legal action for decisions taken while in office.
The Election Commission had earlier this year revised its guidelines on preserving video footage and photographs of elections and communicated to Chief Electoral Officers that the retention period will be 45 days after the declaration of results. It said that data can be destroyed if no election petition is filed during the period.
Rahul Gandhi, in his speech, accused the BJP-led government of capturing institutions such as the CBI and Enforcement Directorate.
“I am saying that institutions of India are captured, and I will come to the point that the Election Commission is captured. The project of the RSS was to capture the institutional framework of the country and I said how the education system has been captured. Vice Chancellor after Vice Chancellor after Vice Chancellor is placed not on merit, not on capability, not on scientific temper, but on the fact that he belongs to a particular organization,” he said.
“Second capture, which helps in destroying democracy, the capture of the intelligence agencies, we have the Home Minister sitting here, the capture of the CBI, of the ED, of the Income Tax Department, and the systematic placement of bureaucrats who favour their ideology and attack the opposition and anybody who chooses to oppose the RSS,” he said.
Rahul Gandhi faced interruptions during his speech, with BJP members stating that he is deviating from the subject of the debate.
He accused RSS of believing in a hierarchy and that “they believe that they should be on top of that hierarchy.”
“It is the idea that every thread, every person in the Union of India is equal that disturbs my friends in the RSS. They are happy to see the fabric, but they cannot stand the idea that every single person in the fabric of our country, regardless of what religion they come from, regardless of what community they come from, regardless of what language they speak, should be equal because they fundamentally do not believe in equality. They believe in a hierarchy, and they believe that they should be on top of that hierarchy,” Rahul Gandhi said.
“On 30th January, 1948, three bullets pierced the chest of Mahatma Gandhi. Nathuram Godse assassinated the father of our nation. Today, our friend does not embrace him. Today, our friends have pushed him away. This is an uncomfortable truth. But that’s not where the project ended. As I said, everything has emerged from the vote. All the institutions have emerged from the vote. So it’s obvious that the RSS has to capture all the institutions that have emerged from it. After Gandhiji’s assassination, the next step of the project was the wholesale capture of India’s institutional framework,” he added.
Rahul Gandhi began his speech by stating that Mahatma Gandhi laid a lot of emphasis on Khadi.
“Why was it that he framed the entire Indian freedom struggle around the concept of khadi, and why is it that he only wore Khadi? Because Khadi is not just a cloth. Khadi is the expression of the people of India; it is the imagination, it is the sentiment, it is the productive force of the people of India… Whichever state you go to, you will find different fabrics. Himachali cap, Assamese Gomcha, Banarsi Saree, Kanchipuram Saree, Naga jacket. And you will find that all these fabrics represent the people… These fabrics are beautiful,” he said.
“But if you look slightly deeper, you will find that each one of them has thousands of little threads embracing each other… No one thread is superior to another thread. The threads cannot protect you. The threads cannot keep you warm. But when they come together as a fabric, they can keep you warm, protect you, and express what you have in your heart. In the same way, our nation is also a fabric made up of 1.4 billion people, and the fabric is woven together by the vote. This House where I am standing today, the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Vidhan Sabha across the country, Panchayats across the country, none of them would exist if the vote did not exist,” he added.
The Lok Sabha took up a discussion on Electoral Reforms on Tuesday, a day after it discussed the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram. (ANI)