NEW DELHI: Union minister JP Nadda on Monday attacked the opposition and leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi over the SIR row surrounding the Election Commission, saying, “repeating a lie a hundred times does not make it the truth”.Nadda also targeted Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, accusing them of attempting to “malign and weaken” the country’s autonomous and constitutional institutions.Speaking to reporters, Nadda took a direct aim at the Congress leader saying, “Rahul Gandhi, listen carefully: repeating a lie a hundred times does not make it the truth; the truth cannot be defeated.”“For Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Akhilesh Yadav, and Mamata Banerjee, the sole agenda has become to malign and weaken the nation’s autonomous and constitutional institutions. This is the same ‘toolkit mentality’ that hatches a new conspiracy every morning to stall the country’s development: level allegations, disrupt the national atmosphere, and flee. This has become the opposition’s modus operandi,” he said.“They care nothing for national security, public welfare, or the country’s honor and prestige. Their only objective is to seize power, not to serve the people, but to nurture dynastic politics and reap personal benefits… The public has taught a befitting lesson to the forces seeking to create instability in the country in the past, and in the future too; every delusion and conspiracy of theirs will be shattered in the court of the people,” he added.Nadda further accused the opposition of continuing to raise allegations despite the Election Commission’s responses, saying it was attempting to create confusion and disrupt the atmosphere in the country.“Today, as the nation realizes the resolve of a ‘Viksit Bharat’ (Developed India) through the tireless efforts of its 1.4 billion citizens, and as India’s influence resonates across the global stage, the Congress and the entire ‘INDI Alliance’ are, unfortunately, frustrated and despondent at this progress…” Nadda said.“Lacking policies and a vision, they are now devising new ploys to spread confusion and anarchy across the country. We all witnessed the uproar created nationwide just a few days ago over a fabricated story. Now, even after the Election Commission has exposed every lie they propagated, they are once again attempting to vitiate the atmosphere,” Nadda added.He alleged that Rahul and Kejriwal “make allegations and walk away; they have nothing to do with public interest.”The Union minister further accused the opposition of attempting to create confusion and disturb the atmosphere in the country despite lacking “intent and vision”.“We saw a few days ago how an attempt was made to disturb the atmosphere across the country on the basis of a fabricated news report. Now, even after all members of the Election Commission have responded to their allegations, they are once again engaged in efforts to vitiate the atmosphere in the country,” Nadda said.Nadda also contrasted the BJP‘s approach to power with that of the opposition, saying, “For BJP, power is a means to serve the interests of 140 crore people.”He said the BJP’s objective was to serve citizens and fulfil its commitment to Antyodaya, while accusing the Opposition of seeking power for dynastic politics and its own interests.Kharge demands CEC’s resignationNadda’s remarks came after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and other leaders demanded the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar and alleged that he was propagating the BJP’s philosophy.“They will say like this only, but their own people have exposed them, and their own people are telling. Even a Chief Secretary of Kerala says, our CEC himself told him to contest the election. It means that a person who is in the highest position is propagating the BJP’s philosophy, and he has become a BJP worker. So it is clear. There is nothing. He should resign. If he has got any little moral right, he should resign from that post. And afterwards, we have to take action against him, even after resignation,” Kharge said.“I have called a working committee meeting for tomorrow, and there we’ll discuss; all the working committee members will give their suggestions. And we are going to fight seriously. This issue concerns the entire country, the existence of our democracy, and the country’s survival. That’s why we are very serious about this issue. We’ll fight, and we’ll see that,” he added.Rahul Gandhi’s allegations over SIRThe political row comes amid opposition criticism of the Election Commission’s handling of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.Rahul Gandhi had earlier alleged that the 2024 Lok Sabha and assembly elections were “all rigged” and demanded the immediate resignation of Gyanesh Kumar.He also accused the CEC of “match-fixing elections”, citing a news channel report claiming that Kumar had approached former Kerala chief secretary Jiji Thomson to contest the 2026 Assembly elections on a BJP ticket.The Election Commission, meanwhile, clarified that a letter sent to the Cabinet Secretary that had drawn scrutiny related to the functioning of an officer on deputation to the poll body and not to any policy matter.The row also follows an Indian Express report that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi raised objections at least 14 times over 10 months on decisions and orders related to SIR and other electoral matters. The reported objections included issues concerning Form 6, voter deletions and access to electoral-roll databases.The poll body rejected the suggestion that these objections amounted to institutional dissent over final decisions, saying operational queries, inputs and suggestions raised during the draft stage were part of its standard administrative and decision-making process.
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The Election Commission maintained that all decisions taken by it, including those related to SIR, were unanimous and had the approval of all three commissioners, PTI reported.Opposition parties, including the Congress, CPI, CPI(M), Trinamool Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT), have demanded Kumar’s resignation.Meanwhile, CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said an INDIA bloc meeting is expected on September 30 to discuss the SIR exercise and the functioning of the Election Commission.