'No data, facts, or proof attached to fake allegations': Goyal slams Rahul Gandhi over meeting with President Murmu

Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday criticised Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his statement following a meeting with President Droupadi Murmu, accusing him of disrespecting constitutional authorities and failing to substantiate his allegations with evidence.

Speaking to ANI, Goyal said Gandhi had shown “arrogance, disrespectful behaviour, disregard for courtesies” and alleged that he lacked an understanding of the law and his constitutional duties.

Also read: Delhi will not be held hostage: CM Rekha Gupta amid CJP leaders detained over protests against CEC Gyanesh Kumar


“It is a matter of shame that the LoP Rahul Gandhi has no respect for any constitutional authority. He has no understanding of the law or his constitutional duties, both as a citizen of India and as the Leader of the Opposition,” Goyal said.

The minister questioned why Gandhi had not submitted supporting documents or evidence along with his representation to the President, saying when the President grants a meeting, it is the responsibility of the person making the representation to provide evidence backing their claims.

“If Rahul Gandhi had any substance to his fake and false narrative and allegations, he would have had the courtesy, and it was his duty, incumbent upon him, to go along with some proof, some evidence, or whatever claims he was making in his representation,” he told reporters.

He further alleged that Gandhi's representation contained no supporting data, facts, figures or proof to substantiate his claims.

Goyal said the President had asked Gandhi to provide the necessary evidence to support his allegations.

Earlier on Friday, Gandhi meet President Murmu, following which he said he was "shocked and stunned" when President accepted the opposition's allegations of 'vote chore' rather than denying it amid the ongoing protest of alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

After meeting the President, the Opposition leader said, "The main thing is that I expected the President of India to deny that 'vote chori' was taking place. I expected her to say that India has a free and fair electoral system. I was shocked and stunned that the President of India accepted what we said."

Also read: 124 former IAS, IFS officers write open letter to citizens, defending EC, SIR amid CJP protest

Speaking about the President's response during their interaction, Gandhi had said, "I sat in quite an unbelievable meeting. First, we took a memorandum to the President of India. In that memorandum, we clearly stated that the Prime Minister, HM Amit Shah, and CEC Gyanesh Kumar had conspired to destroy Indian democracy. The President in no way denied what we said, questioned what we said, or argued what we said. She accepted our statement and then told us that we needed to provide her with proof of 'election chori'. I said that the evidence of 'election chori' is known to the entire country. State after state has been stolen. The 2024 election was stolen, and yet the President wants us to submit proof to her. This same group of people will be very happy to present the evidence of 'election chori' that we have collected to the President of India when she is ready to accept it..."

INDIA bloc leaders submitted a four-point memorandum to President Murmu in their meeting at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The memorandum consisted of the Opposition leaders' allegegations on both the EVMs and the electoral rolls, saying that they been completely manipulated by the BJP in several other Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

The memorandum stated, “We, the Members of Parliament of the INDIA group representing over 60% of the population of our country, approach you with grave alarm over the manner in which the entire election system and the democratic framework of India has been subverted by Shri Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister and Shri Amit Shah, the Home Minister, stealing from crores of Indians their constitutional Right to Vote. This has destroyed the very foundation of our democracy."