During Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s “Voter Adhikar Yatra,” things got tense as Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) workers protested against him in Darbhanga. A video of the event that has gone viral shows BJYM workers waving black flags and trying to get on his car to confront him about comments he allegedly made that were disrespectful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
There is a rising issue about a recent Mahagathbandhan function in Darbhanga, where someone is said to have used derogatory language against PM Modi and his late mother. The BJP has kept attacking the Congress and its allies, asking Rahul Gandhi to apologize, even though Mohammad Rizvi was later arrested. Amit Shah, the Union Home Minister, too spoke out against the comments and said that Gandhi should say sorry for the “abuses.”
During the protest, something interesting happened: Gandhi waved to the protesters and asked them to approach closer before giving them candy, which eased the tension.
At the same time, Gandhi was still attacking the BJP at a different rally in Arrah, where he accused the party of “vote chori” (vote stealing) in a direct reference to the special intense review (SIR) of electoral rolls that is going on right now in Bihar. Gandhi said that the practice, which has apparently removed more than 65 lakh names from the voter registry, is a “conspiracy to block votes ahead of the state Assembly elections.”
He said that the “Voter Adhikar Yatra” would eventually turn into “a country-wide movement against the stealing of votes.” The BJP and the Election Commission have always disputed this claim. As Bihar gets ready for the next Assembly elections, the political climate is still tense. Both the BJP and Congress are stepping up their rhetoric and getting their people to take action.