Patna, July 9 (IANS) Reacting to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s participation in the ‘Bihar Bandh’ protest on Wednesday, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary dismissed the protest, saying, “Gandhi came here just for a picnic, he has nothing to do with Bihar’s problems.”

Gandhi joined RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav in Patna against the ongoing electoral roll revision drive by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

“These leaders just come and go, they contribute nothing to the state’s development,” said Samrat Choudhary, adding, “If they had truly looked around Bihar, they would have seen the progress. Even the airport has been upgraded. Rahul Gandhi won 99 seats and started believing they had won the whole country. This is not a monarchy but a democracy. The Gandhi family’s monarchy is over.”

State Minister Ashok Chaudhary also questioned Rahul Gandhi’s late activism. “If Rahul Gandhi had shown this much interest 10 years ago, the condition of Congress in Bihar would have been different. Now, just before elections, he suddenly remembers backwards and Dalit voters,” he said.

Defending the ECI’s actions, he added, “Anyone eligible should not be left out, and the ineligible should be removed. The system should be transparent.”

The protest also saw slogans like “Election Commission Murdabad” being raised, prompting a sharp rebuttal from JD-U national spokesperson Rajiv Ranjan Prasad.

“This is nothing new for Rahul Gandhi. His ancestors strangled democracy during the Emergency. The trauma of that era still lingers. Leaders like him can never truly believe in constitutional institutions,” he stated.

He defended the ECI’s integrity, asserting, “The Chief Election Commissioner is appointed transparently, through a legal process. This chaos and sloganeering is an insult to democracy and the soul of India.”

The Mahagathbandhan, led by the RJD and Congress, organised the statewide Bandh.

The opposition alleges that the ECI’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls is to benefit the ruling alliance before the upcoming assembly polls.

Opposition leaders claim the process could disenfranchise millions, especially from marginalised sections. The Congress estimates that around 30 million voters may struggle to prove their citizenship due to the demand for 11 different documents.

–IANS

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