Published Oct 12, 2026 | 2:03 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 12, 2026 | 2:10 PM
Gandhi said the Opposition was fighting the government on multiple fronts and winning.
Synopsis: Rahul Gandhi said the Opposition would continue its agitation until until the electoral system was overhauled and accountability fixed. He accused the government of using the police to suppress dissent and protect Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, and said the Opposition was fighting the government on multiple fronts and winning. Gandhi said the Congress’s agitation, protests organised by the Cockroach Janta Party with the support of Left organisations, and other protests across the country were all part of a single movement to defend the Constitution.
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said the Opposition would continue its agitation demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls until the electoral system was overhauled and accountability fixed.
He also announced that the INDIA bloc would approach the Supreme Court with a petition challenging alleged vote theft and irregularities in the SIR.
Addressing a press conference at the Congress headquarters in Delhi ahead of the party’s ‘Chalo Delhi’ march at Connaught Place on Monday, 12 October, Gandhi called on people across political parties to join the protest, scheduled for 1.30 pm at the Barakhamba Road junction.
He accused the Delhi Police of detaining young protesters while allowing members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to move freely. He also accused BJP and RSS members of assaulting women protesters.
He said the authorities’ attempts to restrict movement by stopping trains and buses and deploying large numbers of security personnel across the city would not succeed. Instead, he said, they would only expose those behind Kumar.
“People are being stopped from reaching Delhi. Trains and buses are being stopped, and people are being made to get off. Delhi has been turned into a fortress, into a stronghold. There are police everywhere—20,000 to 30,000 police personnel. Now, you might think that this is a very powerful show of force. But our strategy is different. We want 20,000 to 30,000 police personnel standing on the streets. That is exactly what we want,” he said.
“And the government is making a huge mistake, because we want to show the country that the Narendra Modi government is protecting Gyanesh Kumar. On the one hand, we are saying that we want his resignation. But actually, we want them to protect him, because the more they protect him, the more it will ultimately lead us to the people who control him.”
Gandhi said the Opposition was fighting the government on multiple fronts and winning.
“This battle is being fought on multiple fronts. First, there is the battle of perception. Second, there is the psychological battle. Third, there is the legal battle. Fourth, there is the political battle. We are fighting on all these fronts, and I am happy to tell you that we are winning on all fronts,” he said.
“There is a battle of perception. On one side, the government is frightening children and young people, beating them and attacking women, so that their parents see what is happening and say to their children, ‘Look, they are beating young women. Please don’t go there.’ This is a battle of perception. They want to make India believe that it is afraid of the police, afraid of Narendra Modi, and afraid of Amit Shah.”
He continued:
“We want India to believe something else. We want India to understand that it is not afraid of anything. Forget Narendra Modi—India is not afraid of anything. India will never be afraid of anything. India can never be afraid of anything.”
Gandhi said the extent of the police action against protesters had “deeply disturbed” police personnel themselves.
“They are saying, ‘Why are we being made to beat up the youth of India?’ Within the police force, questions are being raised: ‘We are being told to stop young people, while RSS members are being allowed to roam around freely.’ These questions are being raised within the Home Ministry, the Delhi Police, the CRPF, and the ITBP,” he said.
“BJP goons and RSS goons are beating women. On the one hand, we are being told to beat up India’s patriotic youth and fire pellet guns at them. On the other hand, we are being told, ‘Look, these RSS youths—these criminals, these gangsters—let them go free, and make the young people take a beating at their hands.’ This is benefiting us enormously, and I am happy to tell you that 50 percent of the police personnel are telling us—50 percent, I am counting them—that what you are doing is right; keep going.”
He continued:
“Because the police, the ITBP, the CRPF, the people of India, all of you, and all the opposition parties are on one side. Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Ajit Doval, and the four or five people in the Election Commission who are facilitating vote theft and have hijacked India are on the other side. And we are continuing to widen this divide,” he said.
Gandhi said the Opposition was “quite happy” that Chief Justice of India Surya Kant had said anyone with a grievance was free to approach the Supreme Court, and that the INDIA bloc would file a petition.
He said that AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge and he wrote to the CJI expressing “grave concern about the murder of Indian democracy and election fairness”.
“The Hon’ble CJI has responded and instructed us to file a petition. INDIA bloc leaders and I will march to the SC and file this petition. We invite all Indians to support us,” he said.
“We respect the Chief Justice. We respect the Supreme Court, and we are quite happy that he has shown us a way forward. By telling us that we can file a petition, he has provided us with a path forward.”
Gandhi said the CEC would not escape accountability, but alleged that Kumar had been pressured to undertake irregularities in the SIR by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani.
He said he knew Kumar was watching his press address and urged him to “turn approver” once again.
“You have committed a crime, and frankly, you are not the main criminal. You made a mistake. You have made a mistake, but you are not the mastermind behind it. We are going after the people behind what you did,” he said.
“We might even consider forgiving you, because that would be a service to this nation. It would be a service to this Constitution.”
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Gandhi refused to distinguish the Congress’s agitation from protests organised by the Cockroach Janta Party with the support of Left organisations, as well as other protests across the country. He said all the protests were part of one movement to defend the Constitution.
“There are no parallel protests. They are all part of the same movement. We do not care who you are or which organisation or group you come from. If you are defending the Constitution, as we are, we stand with you. We will support you, help you, and protect you. And we expect the same from you,” he said.
Gandhi said the movement’s immediate demand was the removal of Kumar, followed by the removal of Modi, Shah and others.
“This is a fight to save the Constitution. This is not about Rahul Gandhi or Narendra Modi. None of us is important here. The importance lies with India, with the Constitution, with the voice of the people of India, and with the future of this country,” he said.
“We have the entire blueprint of Narendra Modi. We have his complete dossier. He knows it, and I know it too.”
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Gandhi was asked whether he had a plan for the future if the Congress achieved its goal of removing the current government. He offered a vague analogy.
“This discussion came up with my sister. My sister tells me that we should have a plan. So I told her, ‘You’re not understanding the idea. This is Tandava. This is Shiva’s dance. There is no planning involved in it.’ Today, we are going to the Supreme Court. Tomorrow, something else will happen. The idea is written up there, and that is what we have to follow. There is no need for a plan,” he said.
He cited the change in strategy at Akashvani Bhavan, where the Opposition had initially planned to travel by bus, sit down and get arrested, but later changed its approach.
“Then we changed the plan. So where did the result come from? Did it come from the plan, or from not having a plan?” he said.
Gandhi compared the movement to Shiva’s wedding procession, which he said was open to anyone, irrespective of their background. “Anyone can join Shiva’s wedding procession. As I said, ‘Go back’—look, this is Shiva’s wedding procession. Anyone can join it. Any living being can come. We will not stop anyone. We just have to make the movement visible,” he said.
He asserted that spontaneous resistance was how India resisted.
“This is how India resists. India does not resist according to a plan. India resists with its heart,” he said.
“And the resistance continues. It will continue,” he said.
