Rahul has no right to talk about democracy, his grandmother imposed Emergency: Amit Shah

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has no right to talk about democracy as his grandmother and former prime minister Indira Gandhi put lakhs of people in jail and banned political parties during the Emergency, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday.He hit back at INDIA bloc parties over their Loktantra Bachao save democracy rally at Delhis Ramlila Maidan on Sunday, saying no matter how many parties you gather, only Narendra Modi is going to come as prime minister post-elections.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has no right to talk about democracy as his grandmother and former prime minister Indira Gandhi put lakhs of people in jail and banned political parties during the Emergency, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday.

He hit back at INDIA bloc parties over their 'Loktantra Bachao' (save democracy) rally at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on Sunday, saying ''no matter how many parties you gather, only (Narendra) Modi is going to come'' as prime minister post-elections. The one who commits corruption will be behind bars, the home minister asserted at a meeting of the party's 'Shakti Kendra Pramukh' in Jodhpur.

The people of the country are ready to make Narendra Modi the prime minister for a third time, he said, adding India will become the third largest economy during his next term.

Shah's reaction came a day after top INDIA bloc leaders exhorted the people to defeat the BJP to save democracy and the Constitution and alleged that the opposition has been deprived of a level-playing field in the Lok Sabha elections due to the government's ''dictatorial'' actions.

In his address at the rally, Rahul Gandhi had accused Prime Minister Modi of trying to do ''match-fixing'' in the Lok Sabha polls and warned that if the BJP wins the election through this endeavour and ''changes'' the Constitution, then the whole country would be ''finished''.

The BJP's Monday event at the Polo Ground here was attended by party workers from Jodhpur, Pali, Jalore-Sirohi and Jaisalmer-Barmer Lok Sabha constituencies.

''They said 'save democracy'. What happened to democracy? The people of the country are going to vote. Why are you talking about saving democracy, because your leaders have gone to jail. If they commit scams worth Rs 12 lakh-crore, will they go to jail or not?'' Shah said.

''Rahul Baba, whoever indulges in corruption will be behind bars.'' he said. ''You have no right to talk about democracy.'' ''It was your grandmother, who sent lakhs of people behind bars and banned political parties. So you have no moral right to talk about democracy'', Shah said.

''These are the people who indulge in appeasement politics. In the last five years, religious places were attacked at various places in Rajasthan and many people were killed,'' he said.

The Congress was in power in Rajasthan before the 2023 elections. Shah said justice will be done to all and there will be no appeasement under the BJP rule. ''Rajasthan is going to follow this path.'' The home minister said the BJP government in Rajasthan led by Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma has sent paper leak case accused to jail.

Talking about the Lok Sabha elections, he said the BJP has set the target to win more than 370 seats itself and over 400 for the NDA. But this cannot be achieved by a leader because the BJP is a party that wins elections on the strength workers, he said.

Assailing the UPA government headed by Manmohan Singh, he said, ''Ten years ago there was UPA government and Manmohan (Singh) and Sonia (Gandhi) had kept the country in darkness. In 2014, the people of the country made Modi the prime minister and he brought prosperity and security.'' He said the 80 crore beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, are the 'army' of the PM.

He said India's economy was ranked 11th during the UPA rule PM Modi made it the world's fifth largest economy.

''Make Modi the prime minister for the third time and India will become the third largest economy. We worked to make India a manufacturing hub across the world, we did a lot of work in the infrastructure sector. A new university is opened every week, UPI transactions worth Rs 16,000 crore are done every day, 14 kilometer of road length is built every day, the work of providing tap connection to one house every second is also done by the BJP government,'' he said.

Shah said that former prime minister Jawahar Lal Nehru had made a mistake by imposing the provision of article 370 and everyone believed that it could not be removed but the Modi government abrogated it.

He also highlighted the construction of Ram temple and said that Congress party could not do this because of its appeasement politics.

''We changed 150 year old laws, changed 100 year old Parliament building,'' he said.

Emphasising the steps taken for the security of the country, he said, ''No one now has the courage to carry out bomb blasts in India.'' He said that in 2014, the BJP won all 25 seats in the state with 55 percent vote share, and in 2019, it again won all the seats with 61 per cent vote share.

''This time we have to make a hat-trick by winning 25 seats with 70 percent votes,'' he said.

Bhajanlal Sharma, union minister and BJP candidate from Jodhpur Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and other leaders were present in the meeting. The BJP's fight is against dynastic politics and those who think of their sons, daughters and nephews but not of the youth of the country, he said.

''Sonia Gandhi wants his son Rahul to become prime minister. (Ashok) Gehlot wants his son to be the chief minister, Mamata (Banerjee) wants his nephew to be the chief minister, Lalu Yadav wants his son to be the chief minister, Stalin wants his son to be the chief minister, Uddhav Thackeray wants his son to be the chief minister'', Shah said.

Shah reached Jodhpur on Monday morning and held a meeting of the party's core committee of Jodhpur division with the chief minister and Rajasthan BJP's co-incharge and National Secretary Vijaya Rahatkar.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)