NEW DELHI, November 1 (Aalimi Nation) – Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that the opposition has become an obstructive force rather than an opposing one, in a speech that came a day before the INDIA bloc's planned rally in Delhi. The Modi opposition remarks were made at Ekta Nagar in Gujarat, at an event marking Rashtriya Ekta Diwas and the 151st birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Modi said: "It is our misfortune that the Opposition has turned into Avrodh Paksh," using a Hindi term that means an obstructing force, as distinct from "Virodh Paksh", an opposing group. In what was widely read as a reference to Rahul Gandhi's foreign visits, though he named no one, he asked: "Who is secretly meeting whom in foreign countries?"
He also said social media was being used as a weapon to spread rumours and tarnish India's image, and that while Naxalism had received a decisive blow, the threat of what he called "dimagi Naxals" remained very high. Listing national goals, he named securing borders, stopping infiltration and demographic change, and moving towards a secular civil code. "Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat" and "Viksit Bharat" were, he said, the two goals of the government.
According to an official broadcaster report, Modi also paid tribute to Patel's role in building and protecting national unity, said India is more secure and determined than before, and linked cultural site reconstruction, including the Somnath Temple, Kashi Vishwanath and the Ram Temple, to growing national self-pride. He inaugurated and laid foundation stones for projects worth over ₹400 crore at Ekta Nagar, including a sewage and water treatment plant, an upgrade of the Narmada Ghat and the Rainforest attraction.
The speech followed a symbolic "public impeachment" of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, which the INDIA bloc staged on Saturday as a mock Parliament session at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence. The opposition has raised objections to the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and alleges irregularities, which it describes as "vote chori".
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra, at a press conference at the party headquarters in Delhi, called the exercise a mockery. "The INDIA bloc is making a mockery of democracy by holding a mock parliament today," he said, adding that the opposition could keep Rahul Gandhi as "mock Prime Minister for life". Patra described the vote theft allegations as a "lie" and accused the Congress of spreading falsehoods about the revision and the working of the Election Commission.
The INDIA bloc has planned a rally at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on Sunday, November 1, to press its demand for the CEC's resignation. Bloc leaders expect a very large turnout, while Delhi Police have estimated about 50,000 participants and have made extensive security arrangements.
No direct response from the Congress to the "Avrodh Paksh" remark was available at the time of writing. The Special Intensive Revision remains under way.
The rally and the reactions to it are likely to set the tone of the political exchange in the coming days.
