Home minister Amit Shah was so rattled by an Italian politician raising the Opposition’s slogan “Vote chor, gaddi chhod” (Vote thief, leave the seat of power) at an event organised by Congress and presided over by Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi in Hyderabad that he accused the Nehru-Gandhi scion of defaming India internationally and offered him advice for a chance at returning to power.
Referring to Italian politician Giacomo Filibeck’s speech at the event ‘Bharat Summit’ in Congress-ruled Telangana’s capital on Saturday, November 14, Shah said on Sunday that Congress party was “venting the frustration” of losing three consecutive Lok Sabha elections.
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“If he (Rahul Gandhi) aspires to return to power, he should stop travelling abroad and start visiting villages across India. Then, perhaps, he may have a chance,” Shah said in Pune after laying the foundation stone for the National Heavy Engineering Cooperative (NHEC) revival initiative.
Filibeck, secretary-general of the Party of European Socialists (PES), said in his speech in Hyderabad, “Rahul Gandhi has defended a simple principle on which every democracy rests; ‘one person, one vote’. His campaign for clean and transparent voter rolls and the thousands who marched with him to Ramlila Maidan just two weeks ago remind us that democracy is not given. It is defended by people willing to stand up for it. ‘Vote Chor Gaddi Chhod’. The Congress Party built the democratic foundation of modern India.”
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Claiming that “the entire world is appreciating the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his development model,” Shah accused Rahul Gandhi of inviting to Congress’s Hyderabad event people subscribing to leftist ideologies from across the world to criticise Modi and India.
“(Congress) invited propagators of leftist ideology from across the country and abroad, and the ‘prince’ of Congress also went there. They named it ‘Bharat Summit’, yet Rahul Gandhi ji worked to defame India across the entire world by expressing anti-India views at an international conference,” said Shah, further accusing Gandhi of making foreign trips where he “defames India on international platforms”.
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Italy’s Party of European Socialists (PES) is the umbrella party of centre-left social democratic parties in the European Union (EU). PES has over 100 seats in the European Parliament. BJP has long attacked Congress over the Italian origins of Rahul Gandhi’s mother Sonia Gandhi. After Congress-led alliance UPA won the 2004 Lok Sabha polls and ruled for ten years till 2014, she declined the prime minister’s post, letting Manmohan Singh keep it.
“Congress has lost the last three Lok Sabha elections under Rahul Gandhi’s leadership. If Congress workers continue to work in the same direction, there is no possibility of the party returning to power even in the next 30 years,” said Shah. He accused Congress of failing to deliver during its decade-long rule from 2004 to 2014 under the UPA government. “Corruption scandals worth Rs 12 lakh crore” had surfaced during that period, said Shah, adding that no corruption case had been registered against PM Narendra Modi during the BJP-led government’s 12 years in power.
Shah and several other leaders of BJP insisted that it was wrong to have a foreign political figure comment on India’s electoral process at a political gathering in India. Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said in a post on X: “Have you ever seen anyone laughing when India is insulted by a foreigner? I’m not asking about which Indian goes abroad to insult India.”
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“Congress once tried to make an Italian national the Prime Minister of India. Now, at its Anti-Bharat Summit, an Italian political leader is commenting on India’s internal affairs!” said Union Minister of State for Home, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, who is from Telangana.
