Bihar Congress president Rajesh Kumar on Saturday said it was not for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to decide whether Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi was a ' Jan Nayak' (hero of the people) or not, as the "public has bestowed the title on him".
Modi, while inaugurating youth initiatives worth Rs 62,000 crore, with a special emphasis on Bihar, cautioned the people of the state against attempts to "steal the title of Jan Nayak".
The allusion was to the epithet used by the Congress for Gandhi which has been traditionally associated with the late Karpoori Thakur, a former chief minister of Bihar who was conferred with the Bharat Ratna, posthumously, a year ago.
When the BPCC president was asked about remarks of the PM, who had said "social media trolls do not make a person Jan Nayak", he shot back, "It is not for Narendra Modi to decide either."
"Rahul Gandhi is being called Jan Nayak and Nyay Yoddha (crusader for justice) by the public. The prime minister cannot dictate them in such matters," Kumar said.
He was addressing a press conference at the historical Sadaqat Ashram, the BPCC headquarters, to share the Congress' representation before the visiting EC team led by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, which held talks with delegates from various political parties earlier in the day.
The Congress leader said, "We have apprised the EC of our various reservations regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state, which concluded recently with publication of the final roll."
"We cited anomalies like more than 100 persons shown as residents of the same house in one polling booth. We also challenged the EC to disclose how many foreign nationals did it find having wrongfully been enrolled as voters," the Bihar Congress president said.
Speaking at the same press conference, Congress legislative party leader Shakeel Ahmed Khan said, "Institutions like the EC are built over a long period of time but if autonomous bodies cease to function impartially, credibility is lost in no time."
He voiced anguish that "the EC often keeps silent on charges made by our party and our leader Rahul Gandhi but the ruling BJP at the Centre springs to its feet on such occasions. This sends a very strong message".
The Congress leaders said that while all grievances regarding SIR have been flagged before the EC, these will also be presented before the Supreme Court, which was likely to hear next week petitions challenging the exercise.
Modi, while inaugurating youth initiatives worth Rs 62,000 crore, with a special emphasis on Bihar, cautioned the people of the state against attempts to "steal the title of Jan Nayak".
The allusion was to the epithet used by the Congress for Gandhi which has been traditionally associated with the late Karpoori Thakur, a former chief minister of Bihar who was conferred with the Bharat Ratna, posthumously, a year ago.
When the BPCC president was asked about remarks of the PM, who had said "social media trolls do not make a person Jan Nayak", he shot back, "It is not for Narendra Modi to decide either."
"Rahul Gandhi is being called Jan Nayak and Nyay Yoddha (crusader for justice) by the public. The prime minister cannot dictate them in such matters," Kumar said.
He was addressing a press conference at the historical Sadaqat Ashram, the BPCC headquarters, to share the Congress' representation before the visiting EC team led by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, which held talks with delegates from various political parties earlier in the day.
The Congress leader said, "We have apprised the EC of our various reservations regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state, which concluded recently with publication of the final roll."
"We cited anomalies like more than 100 persons shown as residents of the same house in one polling booth. We also challenged the EC to disclose how many foreign nationals did it find having wrongfully been enrolled as voters," the Bihar Congress president said.
Speaking at the same press conference, Congress legislative party leader Shakeel Ahmed Khan said, "Institutions like the EC are built over a long period of time but if autonomous bodies cease to function impartially, credibility is lost in no time."
He voiced anguish that "the EC often keeps silent on charges made by our party and our leader Rahul Gandhi but the ruling BJP at the Centre springs to its feet on such occasions. This sends a very strong message".
The Congress leaders said that while all grievances regarding SIR have been flagged before the EC, these will also be presented before the Supreme Court, which was likely to hear next week petitions challenging the exercise.
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