Bihar: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK chief M. K. Stalin on Wednesday joined Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s Voter Adhikar Yatra here and slammed the Election Commission over the Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls and said removing 65 lakh Biharis (people of the state) from the voter list is a massacre of democracy and to remove people born and living in their own land from the voter rolls isn’t more terror than that.
Stalin, who arrived in Bihar along with party MP Kanimozhi while addressing a public meeting said that he came here, “crossing two thousand kilometers, only to see all of you”.
He said, “When we say Bihar, the one who comes to everyone’s mind is the name of (RJD supremo) Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Praising Lalu Prasad, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister said, “He is the symbol of social justice and secularism.”
He also recalled that DMK leader Kalaignar and Lalu Prasad Yadav were very close friends.
“Despite so many cases and threats came, because he did politics without fearing the BJP, Lalu Prasad Yadav stands tall today as one of India’s greatest political leaders. In his footsteps, Tejashwi is working tirelessly as a son truly born of that father,” the DMK leader said.
Talking about Bihar, Stalin said that for the past one month, the whole of India has been watching only Bihar.
“That is the strength of the people of Bihar. The strength of Rahul Gandhi. The strength of Tejashwi,” he said, adding, “Whenever democracy in India is in danger, Bihar has always raised the battle cry. That is history.”
He recalled the movement of Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan and said that he echoed the voice of democracy, the voice of socialism and for that, Narayan gathered the power of the people.
“That same task, my dear brother Rahul Gandhi and my younger brother Tejashwi are carrying out here,” he said referring to the Voter Adhikar Yatra.
“Wherever they go, people gather like the sea. I even saw Tejashwi driving a car with Rahul Gandhi traveling in it. I also saw the motorcycle ride. Your friendship is not only political friendship; it is the friendship of two brothers. You have come together to protect democracy – for the welfare of the people,” Stalin asserted.
He also said that this friendship itself is going to bring you victory in the Bihar elections.
Taking on the BJP, the DMK leader said: “The BJP’s treacherous politics is going to lose. Even before the election, your victory has already been decided. That is why they are trying to stop this victory.
Because if voting happens fairly, the BJP alliance will lose, they are trying to prevent the people and you from voting.”
“They have made the Election Commission a puppet that dances when given a key,” he said.
Slamming the poll panel, Stalin said that removing 65 lakh Biharis from the voter list is a “massacre of democracy”.
“To remove people born and living in their own land from the rolls, what could be more terror than that? Even when they have all identity cards, making them like people without an address-isn’t that destruction?” Stalin asked
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister also alleged that unable to stop the victory of Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi, the BJP is trying to do this through the backdoor.
“I have come here to congratulate my brothers for carrying out this struggle against it,” he said.
“Especially Rahul Gandhi is exposing the frauds and manipulations of the Election Commission. The Election Commission has not been able to give a proper reply to this. But the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar says Rahul Gandhi must file an affidavit, must apologize.
“Will Rahul Gandhi be afraid of these threats?” Stalin asked the crowd.
Praising the former Congress chief, Stalin said that in the words of Rahul Gandhi, in the eyes of Rahul Gandhi-there is no fear ever.
“Rahul Gandhi is not someone who just speaks for politics or for the stage. Every word he speaks, he speaks with great care. Why is BJP attacking him now? Because Rahul Gandhi has exposed how BJP has turned the election into a mockery. Out of that anger, BJP is attacking him,” the DMK leader alleged.
He accused the BJP of the party that snatches the people’s right to vote and said that the people will surely snatch away their power.
“That is what this gathering in Bihar shows. In the 2024 Parliament elections, it was here in Patna that we sowed the seed for the INDIA alliance. It was this Bihar that broke the arrogance of BJP, which thought we had no equal rivals, that opposition parties would never unite,” he said, adding that those who dreamt of 400 seats were pushed down to 240 by the INDIA alliance.
“Those who boasted of being majority have now become minority. Bihar must once again prove that before people’s power, any kind of dictator must bow down,” he said.
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi also clicked a selfie with Stalin, Kanimozhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Tejashwi Yadav and other alliance partners from the vehicle during the yatra.
Rahul Gandhi also trained his guns at the BJP-led NDA government citing a media report which claimed that some “anonymous parties” in Gujarat received donations of Rs 4,300 crore between 2019-20 and 2023-24.
He even asked whether the Election Commission will investigate this or ask for an affidavit.
While addressing the people, Rahul Gandhi again targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over announcing ceasefire with Pakistan during Operation Sindoor under US President Donald Trump pressure
He said, “Trump dialled PM Modi and said: Sunn…yeh jo tu kar raha hai isko 24 ghante ke ander band kar aur Narendra Modi ne paanch ghante ke ander saara ka saara rok diya. (Listen… whatever you’re doing, stop it within 24 hours, and Narendra Modi stopped everything within five hours.)”
The 16-day yatra, which began on August 17 from Sasaram, will conclude with a pad yatra in Patna on September 1 before covering over 1,300 km across the State, where Assembly elections are due later this year.
The yatra has so far covered Aurangabad, Gayaji, Nawada, Sheikhpura, Lakhisarai, Munger, Katihar, Bhagalpur, Araria, Purnea, Madhubani, Darbhanga districts. Further, it will pass through Sitamarhi, West Champaran, Saran, Bhojpur (Ara) and Patna districts.
