Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur accused the Congress of undermining democratic institutions and questioning the electoral process for political reasons while addressing a BJP rally under the slogan ‘Save Democracy, End Anarchy’ (Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao) at Mandi on Tuesday.
Before the rally a large number of BJP workers participated in the march from Paddal ground to Seri Manch, where a public meeting was held.
Thakur alleged, “The Congress questioned the credibility of elections whenever results went against them and resorted to misleading claims such as vote theft instead of accepting the people’s verdict.”
He said the massive turnout at the rally reflected public support for democratic values and constitutional institutions.
Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Thakur said, “India is progressing in development, good governance and transparency under his leadership and accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of attempting to create political unrest in the country and India could not be compared with Bangladesh, as the country so is being governed by its Constitution and democratic institutions,” he asserted.
Referring to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Thakur said, “The exercise was intended to prevent fraudulent voting and ensure that eligible voters were not excluded and criticized the Congress for questioning the process and also condemned the language used by some Congress leaders against the Prime Minister”.
Targeting Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu over the Congress’s proposed protest against the Election Commission in Delhi, Thakur questioned the party’s criticism of the electoral machinery; the same Commission had conducted the elections through which Rahul Gandhi was elected to Parliament and Sukhu became Chief Minister”, he stated.
Thakur also criticized the state government’s performance and alleged the development activities have come to standstill despite raising huge loans under the present regime but various election promises made by the Congress during the last election have not been fulfilled.
Reacting to the government’s announcement on the creation of new districts, Thakur said, “The Congress is making fresh promises to create new districts without fulfilling earlier commitments”.
The rally was also addressed by former minister and BJP Mandi in-charge Suresh Bhardwaj, former minister Govind Singh Thakur and BJP MLA and rally coordinator Rakesh Jamwal. Several MLAs from Mandi district were present in the rally.
