As the country braces for the penultimate sixth phase of Lok Sabha polling, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has intensified his verbal attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of working for industrialists. Addressing an election rally in support of party candidate Rao Dan Singh from Bhiwani-Mahendergarh seat, Gandhi labeled the Modi government as the “Adani government.”
Gandhi criticized the Modi government’s Agnipath scheme, alleging that it was introduced without consulting army officials and jeopardizing the future of youths. He accused Modi of dividing martyrs into two groups, claiming that those recruited through the Agnipath scheme were not considered martyrs despite sacrificing their lives on the border. Gandhi vowed to prevent the division of youths protecting the nation’s borders.
Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal addressed the Swati Maliwal assault row for the first time, advocating for justice and a fair investigation considering the incident’s conflicting versions.
In West Bengal, the Calcutta High Court’s decision to annul all entries in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category after 2010 dealt a significant blow to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government, which came to power in 2011. Prime Minister Modi hailed the verdict as a “tight slap” to the Opposition’s INDIA bloc, while Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee declared her government’s intention to challenge the judgment in the Supreme Court.
Furthermore, Banerjee warned the BJP of a ₹1,000 crore defamation suit for allegedly tarnishing her government’s achievements with false claims.
In a separate development, the Election Commission of India (ECI) issued advisories to the presidents of the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), urging them to rein in their star campaigners. The ECI cautioned against making statements that could instill fear in voters or spread anarchy, warning that such practices may border on corrupt practices under the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
As the political landscape heats up ahead of the upcoming polls, rhetoric and tensions continue to escalate among key players in the Indian political arena.
