On 1st November 2026, the past Sunday, we witnessed one more flop show at Ramlila Maidan, Delhi, organised by the Congress party and attended by most of the opposition parties. It was earlier claimed that ten lakh people would be attending the rally. However, even 10% of the big claim didn’t participate in the event. All estimates confirm that the total number of the people attending the rally at its peak time didn’t touch even the 50,000 mark, which is the normal capacity of the ground. People didn’t show their interest in the rally in any significant manner.
All opposition parties, numbering 20 or more, which took part in the rally brought their cadres to the rally. Then there were a number of habitual agitationists and activists also seen in the rally. Leaders of regional parties who have lost their ground in their respective regions spoke at the rally. The attendance of people in the rally, the lack of enthusiasm among them about the issues of the rally and the future agenda sent a clear message across, i.e. that there was a complete disconnect of the leaders with the people on the issues for which the rally was called with extreme fanfare.
Congress and the other newly formed platforms tried to create political pressure upon the government in regard to the resignation of the CEC Gyanesh Kumar earlier also, well before this rally. However, those pressure tactics didn’t work and faded away with the passage of time. The organisers of these protests have clearly mentioned that their actual target was Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and the Home Minister, Amit Shah, whom they wanted in all circumstances to go. The accusations against SIR and resignation of Gyanesh Kumar were basically a camouflage to advance their original motives to dethrone the duly elected government.
The frustration of the Congress-led opposition has reached a level of no-return. They are pursuing an agenda that has no logic and legal standing. Their main thrust has remained on the so-called vote-theft issue, which they are unable to substantiate in any way. They have failed to do so at the levels of CEC’s office, judiciary, Parliament and also in the court of the public, where they keep on losing elections after elections. The recently held elections for MLC seats in a number of states, in which NDA-BJP won 16/28 seats, besides two elected MLCs joining the BJP after the results, is a classic example. In these elections, the Congress party was able to win only one seat through second preferential votes.
The way the things are being manipulated, exaggerated and spoken by the opposition, and particularly the principal opposition party, Congress, supported by the other newly formed groups, clearly indicates that there is a foreign hand involved in these disturbing developments. These are surely aimed at creating disturbances of a bigger magnitude throughout the country and discrediting the government and the nation globally. But their designs have fallen flat due to the disinterest shown by the silent majority of the country.
When the Congress party led by Rahul Gandhi virtually ‘raided’ Akashvani Bhavan, Nirvachan Sadan and the Supreme Court of India in October 2026, it actually made known to the public at large that all these things were done by the Congress in utter desperation. The Supreme Court declined to meet such a raiding delegation of Congress in its premises. Instead, it asked them to file their complaint with the Apex Court, which would be put to trial by the designated bench of the highest court.
The Supreme Court was annoyed over Rahul Gandhi’s conduct on 12 October. The Apex Court clearly questioned Rahul Gandhi’s conduct during his march, stating it wanted the petitioner to explain his conduct while filing the petition, and noted that ‘we are not happy with what was done’. A bench led by CJI Suryakant issued formal notices to Rahul Gandhi, Congress party and the other leaders. The court said that it would ‘examine everything’ but demanded an explanation for the commotion and crowd management during the filing.
Neither Congress party nor Rahul Gandhi, nor the other opposition leaders learnt any lessons out of this fiasco. Instead of waiting for the court’s verdict, they all went for the free-for-all shows castigating constitutionally elected and established institutions and dignitaries of the nation. When they met the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, in regard to their grievances regarding SIR-connected issues, she asked them directly for proof in this connection. The Congress party or any leader of the opposition has failed to provide any proof in this context till date.
Instead, Rahul Gandhi brazenly claims publicly that ‘he had a feeling of vote-chori and his feeling was multiplied by the results of the elections’. On the one hand, he accuses Gyanesh Kumar of conducting SIR to favour PM Modi and BJP, and on the other hand, he accuses him of getting PM Modi elected as the Prime Minister of India. Gyanesh Kumar assumed his office in January 2025, while PM Modi was elected in the year 2024 for the third time. Such atrocious arguments with a false sense of righteousness have gripped the Congress party and its leaders Kharge and Rahul Gandhi beyond imagination.
Unruly, uncontrolled and arrogant behaviour and conduct of the leaders of opposition, both Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, have been witnessed by the people umpteen times now. They have lost control over their language and public conduct. While Congress president Kharge publicly used invectives against the father of the Prime Minister Modi, Rahul Gandhi was seen involved in unruly and vagabond manner during the protests, pushing and pulling people in the rallies. The Supreme Court was compelled to issue a notice to Rahul Gandhi on a plea filed by a pregnant journalist in this regard. A sorry state of affairs about the LoP is a concern for all.
‘The Supreme Court has issued notice to Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi on a plea filed by a pregnant journalist alleging that he pushed her while she was inside the top court’s registry during the opposition’s 12th October march to the top court. On 12th October, 2026, Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders led a crowd to the Supreme Court to submit a petition challenging the Election Commission of India’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The pregnant journalist, Richa Parashar, alleged that Rahul Gandhi had grabbed her and pulled her as she attempted to cover the march. She alleged that his security guards also pushed her; she fell in the push and was hospitalised.
Respondent No.4 (Rahul Gandhi) suddenly pushed her towards the gate, with such force that she lost her balance and fell and had to break the fall with her hands. The push was delivered openly, in a crowded place, in the presence of security personnel, journalists and other persons, despite her express pleas. It was not a mere jostle of the crowd, her application states. The plea claims that even after she was pushed, no one stopped to help her. “Respondent No.4 (Rahul Gandhi) did not even bother and no one, neither he nor any of the leaders, workers or security personnel accompanying him, stopped to help her or to ask whether she was hurt. With blood coming out of her hands, the applicant managed to reach a side pavement, where she sat pleading for help for almost forty minutes’.
In the meantime, the Election Commission of India, in response to the notice of the Supreme Court of India, submitted its affidavit in the apex court and demolished the entire narrative in regard to the decisions about the SIR in the Commission. The ECI stated that all decisions regarding the ‘SIR’ (Summary Revision/Declaration) process were taken unanimously at the Commission. The affidavit was unanimously approved by all three members, the Chief Election Commissioner and both Election Commissioners. All three orders concerning the ‘SIR’ process (June 2025, October 2025 and May 2026) were decisions reached unanimously by the Commission.
The submission also said that there have been no changes to ‘Form 6’; only the Central Government has the authority to amend it. The ‘SIR’ declaration is a separate document. The plea seeking to restrain the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) is not maintainable. The CEC can only be removed in the same manner as a Supreme Court judge. The Commission has never released nor authorised the release of any internal notes or files to the media. The Supreme Court has already dismissed repeated challenges to the EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines). On 17 November 2026, the Supreme Court is expected to deliver the final judgement on SIR and the related issues, for which the opposition has lost its sagacity to wait.
As if it was not all enough, the Congress party organised a mock parliament at the residence of the LoP in Rajya Sabha and the President of the Congress party, Mallikarjun Kharge, on 31 October 2026 (which was earlier decided to be held on 30 October 2026). In the mock parliament, which was attended by real and fake MPs both, a resolution for the ‘impeachment’ of the CEC was adopted. Neither the mock parliament, nor the deliberations in it, nor any sort of resolution adopted therein has any constitutional, legal or moral value. By these kinds of childish activities, the opposition and particularly the Congress party has brought themselves below par in the eyes of the public. In a way, they have further exposed themselves before the nation and their motives have come to be seen with suspicion.
Another aspect of this whole scenario is that the LoP in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has initiated a campaign of threats and warnings to the duly elected authorities and constitutionally established institutional heads, besides the police and civil officers. These threats need to be viewed by the government and the law and order authorities very seriously. Even the Supreme Court needs to take suo moto action on these threats unleashed by Rahul Gandhi. Enough is really enough. It clearly seems that both Kharge and Rahul Gandhi are competent enough to bury the Congress party with their own hands…!
(The author is a senior BJP & KP leader, Human Rights Defender and a columnist and can be reached at [email protected])
