The Congress top leaders took an unprecedented step in an unexpected turn of events, calling a sudden press conference at the break of the day last Thursday to fire formidable salvos at the BJP-led Centre, with the members of the party blaming the NDA government for simplifying the ground rules to their advantage and this step has left several people including their party, the Congress high and dry as India stares at elections to
Three important party leaders presided over the whole event: former party chief Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, present chief Mr. Mallikarjun Kharge, and previous chief Mr. Rahul Gandhi. They specifically highlighted two contentious issues that they believe exemplify the alleged bias against the opposition: using the electoral bonds and the I-Tax department locking up the accounts of the Indian National Congress.
While Kharge was the first to speak among the group, composed of three people, he delved into the reform of the canceled electoral bonds scheme. He emphasized that the party of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received the maximum amount of donations from entire political parties, as the BJP 56% of the total donation was given exclusively to the BJP. Surprisingly, the “dry” and “low-donated” Congress got only 11% of the funds donated by corporations and individuals. At the same time, its counterpart, the Congress, poured huge sums of money into these candidates.
Sonia Gandhi, starting with Kharge’s allegations, focused on Prime Minister Modi, whom she accused of a micro-managed combinative approach to financially strangle the Congress. She pointed to this as a systemic scheme, possibly designed to paralyze the party financially.
Mr. Rahul Gandi put the same position, digging deeper into the accusations, repeating the charges, asserting that the modus operandi used by Mr. Narendra Modi and Mr. Amit Shah was nothing less than the “criminal activity” directed against the Congress. He talked about how during the 1919 elections, around 11 crore votes (the equivalent of 20% of the total votes) were cast in favour for the Congress, in this election, the chopper ticket and the platform ticket is something that the leaders of the party can’t even afford.
Similarly, Rahul Gandhi also hit back by undermining the national institutions. He doubts whether the Election Commission and the courts will do something after they sense the present worsening democratic situation in India. He concluded his speech with those words: “And in that, there is no democracy in India as of now.
Congress Regional leaders’ impromptu press conference vibrates yet more intensity into the already crowded political arena and casts doubt on its fairness and the prospect of Lok Sabha elections.
