Congress wants to topple government through violence using Bangladesh-Model: Rajnath Singh

Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has criticised the Congress over its recent protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, accusing the party of seeking to change the government through violence by adopting a “Bangladesh model”.

Speaking at a press conference in Lucknow on Friday, Singh said the Congress’s agitation was neither against Kumar nor against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Rather, he alleged, the protest was directed against democracy itself, with the aim of toppling the government.

Singh accused the Congress of treating the Election Commission as its “puppet” when it was in power. He said the party had made overnight changes to the Election Commission in 1993.

According to Singh, the then chief election commissioner had recommended to the President of India that Election Commissioner Navin Chawla be removed. However, the Congress later elevated Chawla to the post of chief election commissioner.

The defence minister also claimed that India had no voter identity cards or effective system for verifying voters’ identities before 1993. He said the Congress had been unable to form a government on its own since voter identity cards were introduced.

Singh alleged that the Congress’s protests against the SIR process and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar were not primarily about objections to electoral rolls, but were aimed at weakening independent constitutional institutions.

Addressing Rahul Gandhi, the Congress MP and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Singh said democracy did not give anyone the right to resort to violence. He also accused Gandhi of pursuing the “politics of chaos”.