Congress leader Rahul Gandhi minced no words on Monday as he lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP accusing them of controlling the recent Lok Sabha elections. Alleging that there was no level playing field, Rahul, who is on a four-day trip to the US, said the entire campaign was structured so that Modi could do his thing across the country.
The Congress leader accused the Centre of capturing every field. "We kept stressing that institutions have been captured. The education system has been captured by the RSS. Media and investigative agencies were captured. We kept saying it but people were not getting it. I started holding up the Constitution and suddenly everything I had said just exploded," he said.
Rahul, who arrived in Washington after his Texas visit, added that India understood that if the Constitution goes, the whole game is gone. He also accused the Election Commission of doing what the BJP wanted, and said the entire campaign was structured to enable "Modi do his thing across the country."
"States where they were weak were designed differently than states where they were strong. I don't view it as a free election. I view it as a controlled election," he said.
On how Congress never had a level playing field, Rahul said the BJP had a huge financial advantage. "They had locked out bank accounts," he said recalling the Income Tax Department's move in March to freeze the grand old parties' accounts. The Congress had then alleged that the move was aimed at the Centre's agenda to "kill democracy" and turn the country into a one-party state.
"Three months before elections our bank accounts were all sealed... We were discussing that now what to do...I said 'Dekhi Jayegi', let's see what we can do .. and we went into the elections," Rahul added.
Rahul's remarks follow the pattern of scathing attack he launched against the BJP, during his first US tour after the elections, which saw Congress make a stunning comeback. On Sunday, he had said how minutes after the elections, the fear of the BJP and the Prime Minister had vanished.
His statements on the need to focus on manufacturing in India, saying India, the US and other countries in the West were facing the problem of unemployment unlike China which was dominating global production, saw the BJP lashing out at the leaders.
The BJP had accused Rahul of shaming India abroad, allegations rubbished by the Congress. "He has developed the habit of talking against India, the BJP and the RSS when he goes abroad. He will never refrain from doing so," Union Minister Kiren Rijiju.
However, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday backed Rahul, asserting the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha had never insulted India and would never do so.