India’s defence minister, Rajnath Singh, has accused the Congress and its allies of trying to destabilise the government, over opposition protests in Delhi against the Election Commission. He claimed the opposition was working to change the government in India on the pattern of what happened in Bangladesh, by creating “political unrest”. He made the allegations at a news conference in Lucknow on 15 October.
Rajnath claimed that young people were being used as tools of political conflict in the name of opposing electoral reform and the Election Commission’s special intensive revision (SIR) of the voter list. Efforts are being made to turn the country’s youth into pawns in a politics of disorder, he said. Some have openly admitted they are trying to change the government using what happened in Bangladesh as a model, he said, while others are calling directly for the government’s fall.
According to Rajnath, the opposition’s fight is not against electoral reform, the SIR or Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Its aim, he said, is to seize power by creating anarchy in the country, and to destabilise it by weakening democratic institutions.
Rajnath Singh also attacked the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of trying to make political gain by alleging election irregularities and of damaging the image of constitutional institutions.
“India’s constitutional institutions cannot be made scapegoats for political interests,” Rajnath said. “India’s journey of development cannot be stopped by accusing institutions or through politically opportunistic behaviour. Rahul Gandhi should give up the politics of disruption, respect the people’s verdict and reflect on his own political role.”
The defence minister also answered Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of irregularities in the voter list. He claimed the Congress had made no formal appeal over its complaints about the voter list because it does not have enough evidence to support them.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report