Indira Gandhi Imposed Emergency: Amit Shah Attacks 'Save Democracy' Rally

Rahul Gandhi has no right to talk about democracy as his grandmother and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi put lakhs of people in jail and banned political parties during the Emergency, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday.

He hit back at INDIA bloc parties over their 'Loktantra Bachao (save democracy)' rally in Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on Sunday, saying, "No matter how many parties you gather, only Narendra Modi will return (as the Prime Minister)."

The one who commits corruption will be behind bars, the Home Minister asserted.

The people of the country are ready to make Narendra Modi the Prime Minister for the third time, he said, adding that India will become the third-largest economy in his next term.

Amit Shah's reaction came a day after top INDIA bloc leaders urged people to defeat the BJP to save democracy and the Constitution and alleged that the Opposition has been deprived of a level-playing field in the Lok Sabha elections due to the government's "dictatorial" actions.

In his address at the rally, Rahul Gandhi accused PM Modi of "match-fixing" in the Lok Sabha polls and warned that if the BJP wins the election this way and "changes" the Constitution, the whole country would be "finished".

"They said 'save democracy'. What happened to democracy? The people of the country are going to vote. Why are you talking about saving democracy? Because your leaders have gone to jail? If they commit scams worth Rs 12 lakh crore, will they not go to jail?" Amit Shah said.

"Rahul Baba, whoever indulges in corruption will be behind bars," he said. "You have no right to talk about democracy. It was your grandmother who sent lakhs of people behind bars and banned political parties. So you have no moral right to talk about democracy", he said.

"These are the people who indulge in appeasement politics. In the last five years, religious places were attacked at various places in Rajasthan and many people were killed," he said.

The Congress was in power in Rajasthan before the 2023 state elections.

Amit Shah said justice will be done to all and there will be no appeasement under the BJP rule. "Rajasthan is going to follow this path."

The BJP government in Rajasthan led by Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma has sent the paper leak case accused to jail, he said.

Talking about the Lok Sabha elections, he said the BJP has set the target to win more than 370 seats and over 400 along with the NDA partners. But this cannot be achieved by a leader because the BJP is a party that wins elections on the strength workers, he said.

Assailing the UPA government headed by Manmohan Singh, he said, "10 years ago there was a UPA government and Manmohan (Singh) and Sonia (Gandhi) had kept the country in darkness. In 2014, the people of the country made Narendra Modi the PM and he brought prosperity and security."

Eighty crore beneficiaries of the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana are the PM's "army", he said.

India's economy was ranked 11th during the UPA rule and PM Modi made it the world's fifth largest, he said.

"Make Narendra Modi the PM for the third time and India will become the third largest economy. We worked to make India a manufacturing hub for the world. We did a lot of work in the infrastructure sector. A new university is being opened every week, UPI transactions worth Rs 16,000 crore are being done every day, 14 km of road is being built every day, tap connections are also being provided to a house every second," he said.

Mr Shah said former PM Jawahar Lal Nehru made a mistake by imposing the provision of Article 370 and everyone believed that it could not be removed but the Modi government scrapped it.

He also highlighted the construction of the Ram temple and said that the Congress could not do this because of its appeasement politics.

"We changed 150-year-old laws, changed 100-year-old Parliament building," he said.

Emphasising the steps taken for the security of the country, he said, "No one now dares to carry out bomb blasts in India."

He said that in 2014, the BJP won all 25 seats in the state with a 55% vote share, and in 2019, it again won all the seats with a 61% vote share.

"This time we have to make a hat-trick by winning 25 seats with 70% of the votes," he said.

The BJP's fight is against dynastic politics and those who think of their sons, daughters, and nephews but not about the country's youth, he said.

"Sonia Gandhi wants his son Rahul to become the PM. (Ashok) Gehlot wants his son to be the Chief Minister, Mamata (Banerjee) wants his nephew to be the Chief Minister, Lalu Yadav wants his son to be the Chief Minister, MK Stalin wants his son to be the Chief Minister, and Uddhav Thackeray wants his son to be the Chief Minister", Mr Shah said.