Rahul Gandhi’s campaign invoking ‘thief’ slogans fuels heated national political controversies.
New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi launched in Bihar a campaign accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Election Commission with the slogan “vote thief,” turning his outreach into a combative political movement. Critics argue this resembles attempts to provoke rebellion against elections and democracy, akin to Naxal-Maoist strategies. Although branded as the “Adhikar Yatra,” such rhetoric is troubling in a state with a violent history of booth capturing and election rigging. Questioning voting machines, voter lists, government, Election Commission, CBI, and police only deepens distrust among the poor and uneducated masses.
Ironically, Rahul Gandhi may not realize that similar “thief” slogans have historically trapped many of his own party’s chief ministers and union ministers, whose reputations continue to haunt Congress. The Election Commission has asked Gandhi to submit affidavits within seven days if he has evidence of irregularities in voter rolls, failing which he must issue an apology. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar accused him of “data manipulation” and clarified that voter lists and voting procedures operate under different laws.
Meanwhile, a public interest petition filed in the Supreme Court alleged that Congress and Rahul Gandhi launched this campaign to undermine the Commission’s constitutional independence. The principle of “Voter is King, elected leader is servant” continues to falter due to criminalization of politics. Historically, parties relied on local strongmen during elections, but these strongmen eventually entered politics themselves, altering the system. This trend worsened to the extent that during Congress rule, a notorious figure from Bihar was even nominated to the Rajya Sabha.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government passed a law mandating the removal of ministers sentenced to five years’ imprisonment after just 30 days in jail, Congress and its allies disrupted Parliament in protest. The Joint Parliamentary Committee will reconsider this law before reintroducing it in Parliament. In September 2018, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court directed that candidates must prominently disclose their criminal records to voters. Yet political parties continue to nominate candidates with serious criminal charges, hiding behind the legal principle that “an accused is innocent until proven guilty.” This argument persists even in cases involving grave crimes with detailed chargesheets.
The Election Commission had long recommended disqualifying candidates facing chargesheets, but successive governments ignored it. Prime Minister Modi also urged for special courts to expedite cases against MPs and ministers, but judicial capacity remains insufficient.
As for corruption, Rahul Gandhi’s alliance with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s family in Bihar is politically risky, given Yadav’s convictions in the fodder scam. Congress itself carries the burden of multiple corruption scandals spanning from Indira Gandhi’s era to Manmohan Singh’s government: the illegal timber scandal in Himachal Pradesh, the massive Telgi stamp paper scam in Karnataka, the 2G spectrum scam, the Commonwealth Games scam, and the coal allocation scam. Even leaders like Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal now face allegations similar to those once leveled at Congress leaders Arjun Singh and Digvijay Singh in Madhya Pradesh. The record of MPs bribery cases to save governments further adds to the party’s tarnished legacy.
Rahul Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge, linked to the Congress regimes during the Telgi and Veerappan-era controversies, must reconsider whether the “thief” slogan yields any political advantage or risks greater damage by reopening wounds of the past.
