- Wednesday, December 25, 2024
Mallikarjun Kharge, chairperson of India’s opposition INDIA bloc, said the upcoming elections will be the last opportunity for the people of India to cast ballots.
By: Shubham Ghosh
AFTER witnessing a weekend of turmoil when Nitish Kumar, a top leader of the opposition alliance INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) left the bloc to join hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of prime minister Narendra Modi, Mallikarjun Kharge, president of the main opposition Indian National Congress said that the upcoming general elections will be the last ever in India if Modi comes to power again.
Addressing a gathering of the party workers in Bhubaneswar in the eastern state of Odisha on Monday (29), the 81-year-old leader said the prime minister will declare a dictatorship after the results of the elections are announced.
Kharge, who is also the chairperson of the INDIA bloc which is witnessing turmoil over the last few days as a number of regional parties in its fold are expressing dissent against his Congress, said, “If Modi comes to power after the Lok Sabha polls, there will be dictatorship; no democracy and no elections,” Press Trust of India reported.
Read: India’s anti-Modi opposition unity in tatters as key leader exits alliance
He said the upcoming elections will be the last opportunity for the people of India to cast ballots.
“They are giving (Enforcement Directorate) notices to each and every one. They are intimidating people… Because of fear, some are leaving friendships, some are leaving the party, and some are leaving the alliance… This is your last chance to vote. After this, there will be no voting,” he said, Asian News International reported.
Read: Conferring Bharat Ratna on social justice icon: Modi’s pre-poll masterstroke
Kharge, who is also the leader of the opposition in India’s Rajya Sabha or upper chamber of the parliament, warned the party workers against the BJP and its ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, calling them “poison”.
“Rahul Gandhi wants to unite the country, he said he has opened ‘mohabbat ki dukaan’ (shop of love). But the BJP and RSS have opened ‘nafrat ki dukaan’ (shop of hatred). It is because of this that you need to remain alert. BJP and RSS are poison, they are depriving us of our rights,” Kharge said.
The veteran leader also criticised the chief minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik, over his “friendship” with Modi.
“What did Naveen Patnaik gain from his friendship with Narendra Modi? The double engine fails at times. And when the double engine doesn’t work properly, the first engine also fails,” he said.
Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal often sides with the BJP in the parliament over issues even though it maintains an equal distance from both the main political parties — the BJP and Congress.
Talking about Nitish Kumar’s exit from the INDIA bloc, Kharge said one person’s quitting won’t impact electoral outcomes.
“One person quitting Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) will not weaken us; we will defeat BJP,” he said.
Kumar on Sunday (28) exited the INDIA bloc and formed a government in Bihar in alliance with the BJP, the party it had dumped more than once in the past.
Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) blamed the Congress for the fiasco, saying the party tried to steal the INDIA bloc’s leadership. It also accused the Congress of making Mamata Banerjee propose Kharge’s name as the prime ministerial face of the alliance.
(With agencies)
