‘Remove Modi to save democracy’: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge targets PM at INDIA bloc rally in Delhi

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday alleged that several BJP governments in the country including the government at the Centre were formed on a stolen mandate He said removing Prime Minister Narendra Modi from power was essential to saving democracyAddressing the INDIA blocrsquos rally at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi over the ldquovote chorirdquo allegations Kharge also accused Prime Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah of shielding Chief Election Commissioner CEC Gyanesh Kumar PTI reportedModi and Shah have attempted to snatch the votes of Dalits youth and women Modi ji wants to take away their votes through his man Gyanesh Kumar We will keep fighting until he goes and ensure his exit Kharge saidKharge targets Modi Shah over CECAlleging that Modi and Shah were trying to protect Kumar Kharge said that even if the CEC hides underground we will find himBe it the Central government or governments in Maharashtra Bihar and Uttar Pradesh they are lsquochorirsquo governments formed on a stolen mandate We have to throw out these vote chor Kharge saidModi jayega to hi loktantra bachega Modi ko hatayenge tabhi loktantra ko bachayenge Modi ko hatao loktantra ko bachao Remove Modi to save democracy he said PTI reportedINDIA bloc leaders attend Ramlila Maidan rallySenior leaders including Congress president Kharge former Congress presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav Trinamool Congress TMC chief Mamata Banerjee CPIM general secretary MA Baby CPI general secretary D Raja and CPIML Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya among others attended the rally at Ramlila MaidanEarlier INDIA bloc leaders travelled in an open vehicle from the Minto RoadConnaught Place junction towards Ramlila Maidan for the rally as hundreds of supporters marched alongsideBJP chief Nitin Nabin leads countermarch in Haryana targets Congress over Delhi protestMeanwhile BJP president Nitin Nabin on Sunday criticised the Congress over the INDIA blocrsquos rally in Delhi alleging that the party was targeting constitutional institutions out of frustration over failing to secure the peoplersquos mandate He made the remarks while leading the BJPrsquos lsquoLoktantra Bachao Arajakta Hataorsquo padyatra in Rohtak Haryana organised as a counter to the Oppositionrsquos campaign over alleged ldquovote chorirdquo PTI reportedNabin targets Congress over 1984 antiSikh riotsAddressing party workers during the march Nabin said the Congress should have apologised for the 1984 antiSikh riots instead of staging a protest on the anniversary of the killings in DelhildquoThe Congress party should have sought atonement and offered an apology for the acts committed against the Sikh brethren the massacres and the killings that took place on this very day in 1984 Instead today they have come out to stage a protestrdquo he saidReferring to the remarks made by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi after the 1984 riots Nabin questioned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over the partyrsquos response to the violenceldquoWhen our Sikh brethren were being murdered and massacred your father remarked that lsquowhen a big tree falls the earth shakesrsquo You ought to have felt remorse for the lives of the many Sikhs that were lost you should have apologised for that Yet you have chosen to stage a protest todayrdquo he saidBJP chief accuses Congress of disrespecting peoples mandateNabin alleged that the Congress was blaming constitutional institutions because it had failed to secure a public mandateldquoIn a democratic system the public gives a mandate to run the government Since you did not receive such a mandate you are clearly feeling disappointed and frustrated and you are blaming the constitutional institutions for thisrdquo he saidThe BJP chief said the padyatra was aimed at strengthening democracy and respecting the peoplersquos mandateldquoEvery step you have taken during this padyatra has been a step towards strengthening democracy and the democratic forcesrdquo he told participantsHe also questioned the need for a campaign to save democracy when the BJP was in power at the Centre and in several states saying NDA workers responded when the Opposition disrespected the public mandateNabin challenges Congress over internal democracyNabin also challenged Congress leaders to end what he described as ldquorajtantrardquo monarchy within the party alleging that it was centred around Rahul Gandhi and establish internal democracyThe BJPrsquos countermarch came as the INDIA bloc held its lsquoChalo Dillirsquo protest at Ramlila Maidan in the national capital against alleged electoral irregularities and demanding the resignation of Gyanesh KumarBJP incharge for Haryana Smriti Irani Union Minister and RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary Haryana BJP president Archana Gupta senior party leaders O P Dhankar Subhash Barala Capt Abhimanyu and Mohan Lal Badoli along with Haryana ministers Krishan Kumar Bedi and Arvind Sharma participated in the march Party workers and local residents also joined the rallyWith PTI inputs