NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday slammed the Modi government over Union minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh's remarks that voter ID will replace Aadhaar for identifying beneficiaries for social welfare programmes, saying "this isn't just vote theft, it's rights theft".
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha termed as a "conspiracy" the Modi government minister's announcement that benefits of schemes will now be determined not by Aadhaar, but by Voter ID.
"The conspiracy runs very deep -- take your time to understand it. Under the guise of SIR, millions of names are being struck off voter lists, if not stopped, even more will be removed. Whose names are being targeted the most? Those who are furious with the BJP," Gandhi said in his post in Hindi on X.
Voter lists should be in the hands of an impartial Election Commission, but now they're in the hands of "Modi government employee Gyanesh Kumar", whose collusion with the BJP in vote theft "we've caught red-handed with evidence", he said.
The preparation is underway to craft such a list where the majority is always BJP's, and now that very list will decide whether you get scheme benefits or not, Gandhi alleged.
"Anyone who decided yesterday that the BJP must go, will have their names cherry-picked and struck off. Name struck -- vote gone. Vote gone -- rights gone," he said
"Just like that, you'll become invisible citizens of a hijacked democracy, where the people don't elect the government, the government selects its people. Today, Panchayati Raj schemes. Tomorrow, rations? Pensions? MGNREGA? Housing? Scholarships? Reservations?" Gandhi said.
This isn't politics to win elections, it's an arrangement to steal elections and a permanent setup to cling to power, he alleged.
"Voting is your right, not a condition. A poor person's pension cannot be enslaved to their voter card. This isn't just vote theft -- it's rights theft. We won't let this happen," Gandhi said.
He also posted a video clip of the remarks by Panchayati Raj Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh, alias Lalan Singh.
The Congress on Thursday had attacked the Centre over Singh's remarks that voter ID will replace Aadhaar for identifying beneficiaries for social welfare programmes, saying "vote chori" is just the trailer and the full picture is "haq-huqooq (rights) chori".
Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lallan Singh had said that access to financial benefits and welfare payments under schemes of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj will now require an Elector's Photo Identity Card (EPIC) number along with mandatory biometric authentication.