The Lok Sabha witnessed an unprecedented confrontation on Wednesday during discussions on electoral reforms and voter list revisions. A fierce exchange that took place between Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi over allegations of 'vote theft' escalated to the level of personal attacks. During Amit Shah's speech, Rahul Gandhi challenged him to a debate about his press conferences. In response, Shah counter-attacked Rahul, calling the Nehru-Gandhi family hereditary 'vote thieves'.
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Genesis of the Confrontation
This confrontation began when Amit Shah was delivering a statement on behalf of the government in the Lok Sabha regarding the 'Special Intensive Revision' or SIR process of voter lists. Shah claimed that the opposition was spreading false propaganda about this process because this revision would remove the names of illegal immigrants from voter lists, which would hurt the opposition's vote bank. He reminded that this voter list revision process was nothing new and had been implemented during Manmohan Singh's tenure as well.
In the middle of Shah's speech, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi stood up and directly challenged the Union Home Minister to a debate about Rahul Gandhi's last three press conferences.
Shah's Counter-Attack
Faced with Rahul's interruption, Amit Shah lost his temper. In a sarcastic tone, he said, 'The Leader of Opposition cannot decide what I should say. You need to learn patience. When senior leaders speak, it is not right to interrupt them midway.'
After this, Amit Shah intensified his attack. He said that Rahul Gandhi had claimed on November 5 that he would drop a nuclear bomb. He had said that 501 votes were cast in a house in Haryana. But the Election Commission investigated and found that house number 265 was actually a huge ancestral property where multiple families reside. It was not a small flat. His claim was completely false and baseless. This was merely an attempt to create a narrative of 'vote theft'.
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'Hereditary Vote Thieves'
It didn't end there. After this, Amit Shah launched a personal attack on Rahul Gandhi, directly pointing fingers at the Nehru-Gandhi family. He said that those who are pointing fingers at us, their family's history is filled with vote theft. Some families are hereditary vote thieves.
In support of his claim, Shah mentioned three incidents:
Nehru vs Patel
Shah claimed that in the Congress presidential election after independence, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had received support from 28 Provincial Congress Committees, while Jawaharlal Nehru received only two. But Patel was sidelined and Nehru became Prime Minister. Shah claimed this incident to be the country's first vote theft.
Indira Gandhi and the Emergency
Next, Shah brought up the Emergency. He said that the Allahabad High Court had cancelled Indira Gandhi's election. Then she amended the Constitution to save her position. This was the second attack on democracy and a shameless example of vote theft.
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Sonia Gandhi
Amit Shah further alleged that Sonia Gandhi had her name included in the voter list even before obtaining Indian citizenship. He highlighted that the controversy of Sonia Gandhi became a voter before becoming an Indian citizen has recently reached the Civil Court. He called this incident another instance of 'vote theft'
Opposition's Hypocrisy
After this, the Union Home Minister accused the opposition of 'hypocrisy', saying that Congress starts blaming the Election Commission or EVMs whenever it loses. He stated that when the opposition won in Himachal, Karnataka or Telangana, the Election Commission is great. And when they lose in Haryana or Madhya Pradesh, then EVMs get hacked, or the Commission becomes incompetent. This kind of hypocrisy will not continue anymore.
This heated exchange led to tremendous uproar in the Lok Sabha. Slogans and counter-slogans from Treasury Bench and opposition MPs made it difficult to hear anything. Finally, the Speaker had to intervene to control the situation.
