INDIA bloc to hold major protest in Delhi on Monday to protect voting rights

Alappuzha: AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said the INDIA bloc would stage a major protest in Delhi on Monday as part of its continuing fight to protect people's voting rights.

While addressing reporters on Saturday, he said the bloc recently met the President to convey its concerns on the matter and would also meet the Chief Justice of India on Monday.

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Venugopal alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah's attempts to protect Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar would lead to their downfall.

"PM Modi is behaving like a leader nearing his downfall. He is afraid of the opposition's protests," Venugopal alleged.

He alleged that measures, including the closure of metro stations, were being taken to deal with the protesters.

The Congress and the INDIA bloc would continue their struggle until the electoral process and system became free and fair, he said.

He said the Congress had intervened cautiously against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Keralam, and referred to the controversy over the BJP's election symbol, the lotus, appearing on the Election Commission's letterhead

Venugopal also criticised the Centre and the BJP for not granting an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to Keralam, saying the reasons cited by the union government for denying the facility to the state lacked justification when compared with the circumstances in places where AIIMS institutions had been sanctioned.

He alleged that Keralam had no place in the BJP's political agenda and remarked that disbanding the party's state unit would be more appropriate.

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Recalling that he had raised a question on the issue in Parliament in 2015, Venugopal said the then Union Health Minister had assured him that AIIMS would be sanctioned for Keralam the following year. However, the Centre had failed to honour the promise, he said.

The leader expressed hope that if the BJP government failed to sanction AIIMS for the state in the next two years, the INDIA bloc could ensure the facility for Keralam if it came to power.

Asked about a court order directing the registration of an FIR against Leader of Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan in the CMRL-Exalogic case, Venugopal said the law and court orders were equally applicable to everyone.