Patna, 16 August

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will on Sunday launch a yatra to highlight the alleged assault on the people’s right to vote through the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, a senior party leader said on Saturday.

Addressing a press conference here, former state Congress president Akhilesh Prasad Singh said Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, is likely to be in the state for over a fortnight till the ‘Vote Adhikar Yatra’ concludes with a rally in Patna on 1 September.

“Tomorrow, Gandhi will launch the yatra from Sasaram. All the necessary permission has been obtained from the authorities concerned. The yatra will build a tempo in favour of the INDIA bloc ahead of the assembly polls,” the Rajya Sabha MP said.

Replying to a query, he said Gandhi was likely to “stay in Bihar for nearly 15 days” to lead the yatra, which will cover “25 districts of the state” with three “break days” on 20, 25 and 31 August.

“At Sasaram, Rahul Gandhi is likely to be joined by Tejashwi Yadav, the Leader of the Opposition in Bihar, besides our other alliance partners, including three Left parties. For the final rally in Patna on 1 September, we will try to bring leaders of as many like-minded parties as possible,” Singh said.

“We have been left with no option, but to hit the streets. Our pleas for a discussion on the sensitive issue in Parliament have fallen on deaf ears. The behaviour of the Election Commission reminds us of Babasaheb Ambedkar’s warning that the Constitution faced the greatest threat from those who were either stupid or cunning,” he said.

All parties, including NDA partners like Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, have voiced concerns over the special intensive revision, as part of which names of “lakhs of people have been deleted from the electoral rolls”, Singh asserted.

“Only two parties, the BJP and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), have not spoken a word on the issue. In any case, the government headed by Kumar, who has an alliance with the BJP, is all set to be voted out in the upcoming elections. The people of the state are fed up with the current regime,” he claimed.

Asked about Union minister Giriraj Singh’s fulminations against the proposed yatra of Gandhi, the Congress leader replied with a chuckle: “Yesterday, he and I came here from Delhi by the same plane. He was very much sharing our concerns about special intensive revision. But, in public, he has to toe the party line.”

Meanwhile, the RJD launched a two-and-a-half-minute song, with lyrics in a mix of Hindi and Bhojpuri, in a bid to project the key role Tejashwi Yadav is expected to play in the yatra.

In the video of the song, Yadav is seen sharing the space with Gandhi, and hailed as a leader who was vigilant and willing to rouse the people, and ensure “nobody’s right to vote is snatched and the spirit of freedom is never lost”.