If people brought the “Modi and Shah” government back, democracy would end in the nation, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said on Sunday at a rally in Madhya Pradesh’s Satna amid the ongoing multi-phase Lok Sabha election.
“Our Home Minister [Amit] Shah has a big laundry which has a big washing machine. I had heard earlier that a washing machine is used to wash clothes but for the first time I heard that in Shah’s laundry, it also cleans people. So far, 27 big leaders have been cleaned in it,” Mr. Kharge said.
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“This is [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi’s government. This is Shah’s government. If you bring it back again, I swear the democracy in this nation will end,” the Congress leader said.
Mr. Kharge addressed the rally after he filled in for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who was originally scheduled to speak in Satna but could not make it as he was unwell, Congress’ State unit president Jitu Patwari said earlier in the day.
Mr. Kharge said that Mr. Gandhi was suffering from food poisoning.
The Congress chief also claimed that the INDIA coalition would secure a “big majority” in the 102 Lok Sabha constituencies that voted in the first phase on April 19.
He said that the BJP’s only job was to “abuse” the Congress and the Gandhi family, and “destroy” the Constitution and democracy.
“Modi-ji says ‘even if Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar comes back, the Constitution will not change’. But I ask — if this is true, then why do your MPs, MLAs and [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan] Bhagwat say ‘give us two-third majority, we will change the Constitution’?” Mr. Kharge asked.
“[BJP MP] Anantkumar Hegde has said ‘we need 400 seats so that we can change the Constitution’,” he added.
Mr. Kharge also said that the nation’s assets, including public sector undertakings, airports, and big industries were being sold to “two buyers”. “Who are these two buyers? Adani and Ambani. Who are the sellers? Modi and Shah,” he said.
The Satna Lok Sabha constituency will go to the polls in the second phase of the General Election on April 26. The BJP has fielded its four-term MP Ganesh Singh, while the Congress has nominated MLA Siddharth Kushwaha from the seat.
Satna is expected to witness a triangular contest as former MLA and prominent Brahmin leader of the Vindhya region, Narayan Tripathi, is also in the fray with a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket.
Mr. Kushwaha defeated Mr. Singh in the 2023 Assembly election to win the Satna Assembly constituency in a similar triangular face-off.
