On the 83rd anniversary of the Quit India movement, the Congress also alleged that while the Congress leadership at the time languished in jails, the RSS opposed the movement.

“In 1942, the Quit India Movement was started against the British rule with the invaluable mantra of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, ‘Do or Die’, which gave new enthusiasm to the freedom struggle,” said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.

In a post on X , he said, under the leadership of the Indian National Congress, countless Indians took to the streets in the Quit India movement and wrote the saga of this unforgettable history.

“On ‘August Kranti Diwas’, we pay our heartfelt tributes to all the freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of the country,” Kharge said.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, late at night on August 8, 1942, the All India Congress Committee passed the historic Quit India resolution.

“Thereafter Mahatma Gandhi gave his iconic ‘Do or Die’ speech heralding the launch of the Quit India movement.

“In the very early hours of Aug 9th, 1942, the top leadership of the Congress were jailed. Gandhiji himself was kept at the Aga Khan palace in Pune till May 6, 1944. Nehru, Patel, Azad, Pant, and others were taken to Ahmednagar Fort prison where they remained till March 28, 1945,” Ramesh said.

He said for Nehru it was the ninth imprisonment and between 1921 and 1945, he spent a total of nine years in jail. It was in Ahmednagar jail that he wrote his immortal The Discovery of India, he noted.

“While the entire Congress leadership languished in jail and while the entire nation was stirred, the RSS brotherhood actively opposed the Quit India movement. Seven years later it was to oppose the Constitution of India as well,” Ramesh alleged.

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Gandhi made the charge in a video released on his YouTube channel in which he also claimed that SIR has been brought in Bihar because the EC knows that “we have caught their chori”.

He alleges that the Election Commission (EC) and the BJP are “colluding” to “steal elections”.

A day after he held a press conference in which he pointed to a “vote chori” model being allegedly used in various constituencies across the country, Gandhi released the video explaining the investigation done by the Congress and what the analysis of data of an assembly segment in Karnataka from the 2024 Lok Sabha polls suggests.

Citing the probe, Gandhi goes on to repeat his claims in the video that over 1 lakh votes were “stolen” through five types of manipulation in the assembly segment of Mahadevapura in Karnataka’s Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat.

He says that 1,00,250 votes were stolen in the Mahadevapura assembly segment in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

“I am confident that there are more than 100 such seats in India. What has happened here has happened in those seats as well,” Gandhi says.

“If the BJP had 10-15 seats less, Modi would not have been the prime minister and there would have been an INDIA bloc government,” he says in the video and goes on to talk about the five types of ‘vote chori’ found in the Mahadevapura assembly segment.

Gandhi claims there was a theft of 1,00,250 votes in the Mahadevapura segment, with 11,965 duplicate voters, 40,009 with fake and invalid addresses, 10,452 bulk voters or single-address voters, 4,132 voters with invalid photos and 33,692 voters misusing Form 6 of new voters.

He goes on to describe each form of manipulation with examples on the screen.

Under the ‘duplicate voter’ header, Gandhi claims that 11,965 such voters were found in the Mahadevapura segment.

He cites that Gurkeerat Singh Dang appeared on the voters’ list four times at as four different booths. The former Congress chief also cites the example of another person being registered as a voter in different states.

Gandhi claims that there were 40,009 voters with fake and invalid addresses, showing on screen how several people in the Mahadevapura segment were registered with ‘House Number 0’.

Under the header of bulk voters or single address voters, there were 10,452 voters in Mahadevapura, Gandhi says and cites that ‘House number 35’ having 80 registered voters.

He further claims that there were 4,132 voters with invalid photos and 33,692 voters who misused Form 6, meant for first-time voters. Under this header, Gandhi cites the example of one Shakun Rani, a 70-year-old woman registered twice in two months.

“The truth is that in India, the EC and the BJP are colluding to steal elections. The entire evidence is before everyone in black and white,” Gandhi says.

“They know that we have caught their ‘chori’ and that is why SIR (Special Intensive Revision) has come. SIR is an institutionalised chori. EC is openly colluding with the BJP to carry out this theft. SIR’s objective is to take away the voting rights of the poor,” he further charged.

“In this investigation we have looked only at voter addition. But probably the number of voter deletions is much more than voter additions,” he adds.

“We have caught just one method, we have not probed other methods. I am telling the EC and its officials clearly that what you are doing is not right. This is treason against the country,” Gandhi says, reiterating his warning to the officials.

“Time will come, we will catch you and you will not be spared. It is critical that we expose voter chori,” Gandhi asserts.

Pointing out that he was born into a political family, Gandhi recalls in the video that when he was small, in 1980, he along with his sister Priyanka (Gandhi) used to go out at night and stick posters for campaigning.

“I understand elections and have been fighting polls myself for the last 20 years. How polling happens, how polling booths are managed, voters list, form 17, I understand all this. Some time back we felt something was fishy,” Gandhi says.

“Election results would be contrary to the mood. I remember in Uttarakhand, we lost the polls. I asked the candidate to go and find out how many votes we got where a road show was held. Thousands of people came for the road show but none voted in the polling booths. This was impossible, it cannot happen. Then came the results of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh and we realised that there is something wrong,” he says.

Gandhi talks about Madhya Pradesh where the party won 2018. He says the Congress government was stolen later and during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, he felt tremendous anti-incumbency against the BJP rule.

“But in 2023, we only got 65 seats. This is impossible. Then came Maharashtra and we got our evidence for the first time. New voters emerged through magic between the Lok Sabha and assembly polls. Wherever these new voters voted their vote went to the BJP,” he claims.

“When we had doubts we did a press conference along with our alliance partner leaders. We asked EC to give us the voter list and video recording. They neither gave us the voter list nor the video recording which raised doubts. It raised the question in our mind as to whether the EC is helping the BJP. Is the EC indulging in stealing elections? We set up a team and asked them to find out the truth,” Gandhi says in the video.

He points out that EC does not give digital data but physical data which means lakhs of papers have to be examined physically.

The reason EC does not give digital data is that if it does so, its reality would be out, Gandhi claims.

Tagging his video on X, Gandhi said, “Vote theft is not just an election scam, it is a big fraud committed against the Constitution and democracy.”

“Criminals of the country should listen – times will change, punishment will definitely be given,” he added.

Gandhi on Thursday made explosive claims of a “huge criminal fraud” in polls through collusion between the BJP and the EC, as he cited an analysis in a constituency in Karnataka and said it was “a crime against the Constitution”.

The Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka on Thursday asked Gandhi to share the names of electors he claimed were either included or excluded wrongfully from the voters’ list of the state along with a signed declaration for the poll authorities to initiate “necessary proceedings”.

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Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said that President Trump is “piling it on India”.

In an X post, Ramesh wrote, “Since May 10, he has claimed 30 times that he stopped Operation Sindoor. These claims were made in four different countries. On June 18, he hosted the Pakistan Army Chief and the orchestrator of the Pahalgam terror attacks for lunch at the White House.”

“On July 30, he imposed a 25% tariff on US imports from India plus a penalty on India’s oil and defence purchases from Russia. In addition, sanctions on at least six Indian companies were imposed for engaging with Iran,” he said.

On July 30, Trump also announced that the US will help Pakistan explore and develop its oil and gas reserves, Ramesh said, adding that this comes on top of his full-throated support to Pakistan receiving financial assistance from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

“Prime Minister Modi once spoke of the TOP (Tomato, Onion, Potato) challenge in prices. Now India has to contend with the political challenge arising out of CAP (China, America, Pakistan),” Ramesh said.

“He (Modi) invested very heavily in his personal friendship with President Trump, as he had done earlier with President Xi. Both have the full measure of the man now –“ someone who can be managed easily by playing to his gigantic ego and self-obsession,” the Congress leader said.

The remarks came a day after the US President announced the imposition of 25 per cent tariff on all goods coming from India starting August 1, plus an unspecified penalty on the country for buying Russian crude oil and military equipment.

The announcement is being seen as a pressure tactic to get New Delhi to agree to demands made by the US, which has, in recent days, got favourable trade deals with major partners like Japan, the UK and the European Union.

In a social media post, Trump termed India’s trade policies as “most strenuous and obnoxious”.

“All things not good! India will therefore be paying a tariff of 25 per cent, plus a penalty for the above, starting on August first,” Trump wrote.

The penalty was announced as India has made large purchases of oil and military equipment from Russia. India is the first country Trump has slapped a penalty over Russian imports. Earlier, he had imposed high tariffs on China but refrained from levying any penalty despite Beijing being Russia’s largest oil importer.

On Wednesday, the Opposition parties slammed the government for the US’ imposition of the tariff and penalties on Indian imports, and said that Prime Minister Modi’s friendship with the US president meant little.

Ramesh had said that Modi should take inspiration from former prime minister Indira Gandhi and stand up to the president of the United States.

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“Stop vote theft”, Opposition MPs hollered before the house was adjourned.

The house will meet again on Tuesday for a 16-hour discussion on Operation Sindoor. According to sources, Rajnath Singh and S Jaishankar will be among the ministers who will take part in the discussion in the Rajya Sabha. PM Modi is also expected to intervene in the discussion.

The largest opposition party, Congress, has been allotted an approximate time of two hours in the discussion. Party president Mallikarjun Kharge will open the debate for them.

Meanwhile, the discussion on Operation Sindoor has finally begun in Lok Sabha after being adjourned three times earlier in the day.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh opened the discussion, calling the military operation that was launched by the Indian armed forces as “historic”, Singh paid tributes to the soldiers who always remain ready to sacrifice their lives for the nation.

“The Parliament is ready to discuss Operation Sindoor. First of all, I would like to extend my gratitude on behalf of the Parliament towards brave jawans who have sacrificed for the country whenever required,” Singh said in his address to Lok Sabha.

He emphasised that Operation Sindoor was a “decisive and effective demonstration” of India’s policy against terrorism.

“On May 6 and 7, the Indian armed forces launched Operation Sindoor, which remains historic. Operation Sindoor was not merely a military operation but a decisive and effective demonstration of our policy against terrorism. It also reflected commitment to India’s sovereignty, its identity, and our responsibility towards the citizens of the country,” Rajnath Singh said.

Along with Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, BJP Vice-President Baijayant Panda will also speak in Lok Sabha.

Deputy Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi, will lead the opposition’s discussion. He will be aided by other Congress MPs, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Deepender Hooda, Praneet Shinde, Saptagiri Ulaka, and Bijendra Ola.

Lok Sabha is also set to hold a discussion on Operation Sindoor, with top leaders from the ruling alliance and the opposition participating. Ahead of the 16-hour-long discussion on Operation Sindoor in the Lok Sabha, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju has appealed to the opposition not to speak the language of Pakistan.

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Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh also raised questions over the absence of Union ministers J P Nadda and Kiren Rijiju from the second Business Advisory Committee on Monday, saying “something very serious” happened between 1 pm and 4.30 pm on Monday to account for their deliberate absence from the second BAC.

Congress Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha said Dhankhar’s resignation was quite unexpected.

“While presiding over Rajya Sabha yesterday he was his good jolly self!! Did the way he proactively handled the 2 impeachment motions (Justice Yadav & Verma) yesterday the last straw!!” he said on X.

Ramesh pointed out that Dhankhar chaired the BAC of the Rajya Sabha at 12.30 pm on Monday.

“It was attended by most members, including Leader of the House J P Nadda and the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju. After some discussion, the BAC decided to meet again at 4:30 PM,” he said in a post on X.

At 4.30 pm, the BAC reassembled under the chairmanship of Dhankhar, the Congress leader said.

“It waited for Shri Nadda and Shri Rijiju to arrive. They never came. Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar was not personally informed that the two senior Ministers were not attending. Rightly he took umbrage and rescheduled the BAC for today at 1 PM,” Ramesh claimed.

So “something very serious” happened yesterday between 1 pm and 4.30 pm to account for the deliberate absence of Nadda and Rijiju from the second BAC yesterday, he said in a post on Tuesday.

“Now in a truly unprecedented move, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar has resigned. He has given health reasons for doing so. Those should be respected. But it is also a fact that there are far deeper reasons for his resignation,” Ramesh claimed.

While always lauding the post-2014 India, he spoke fearlessly for the welfare of farmers, forcefully against what he called ‘ahankar (arrogance)’ in public life, and strongly on judicial accountability and restraint, Ramesh said.

“To the extent possible under the current G2 ruling regime, he tried to accommodate the Opposition. He was a stickler for norms, proprieties, and protocol, which he believed were being consistently disregarded in both his capacities,” he said.

“Jagdeep Dhankar’s resignation speaks highly of him. It also speaks poorly of those who had got him elected as Vice President in the first instance,” he said.

The opposition on Monday raised questions over Dhankhar’s sudden resignation as the vice president, with the Congress saying that clearly, there is “far more to his totally unexpected resignation than meets the eye”.

The Congress has also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to convince Dhankhar to change his mind.

In a sudden move, Dhankhar resigned from his post on Monday evening, citing medical reasons. He sent his resignation to President Droupadi Murmu and said he is stepping down with immediate effect.

“The sudden resignation of the Vice President and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha is as shocking as it is inexplicable. I was with him alongside a number of other MPs till around 5 PM today and had spoken to him over the phone at 7:30 PM,” Ramesh said in a post on X on Monday night.

“No doubt Mr Dhankhar has to give topmost priority to his health. But clearly there is far more to his totally unexpected resignation than meets the eye,” he had said. This is not the time for speculation though, Ramesh added.

Dhankhar took both the government and the opposition to task in equal measure, he said.

“He had fixed a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee tomorrow at 1 PM. He was also to make some major announcements related to the judiciary tomorrow,” Ramesh had said.

“We wish him the best of health but also request him to reconsider his decision. We also expect the Prime Minister to get Mr Dhankhar to change his mind. This will be in the nation’s interest,” the Congress leader had said.

The farming community, in particular, will be greatly relieved if Dhankhar changed his mind, he added.

Dhankhar, 74, assumed office in August 2022 and his tenure was till 2027.

He was also the chairman of the Rajya Sabha and his resignation came on the first day of the Monsoon session of Parliament.

Dhankhar recently underwent angioplasty at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi.

In his eventful tenure as Rajya Sabha chairman, Dhankhar had several run-ins with the opposition, which had also moved a motion to impeach him.

The motion, the first ever in independent India to remove a vice president, was later rejected by Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh.

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Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh also took a swipe at Modi over his foreign visit this week, saying “48 hours later, the Super Premium Frequent Flyer” will start yet another foreign visit and the “people of Manipur will have more cause for disappointment”.

Prime Minister Modi will pay a four-day visit to the United Kingdom and the Maldives from Wednesday to shore up overall bilateral ties and formalise the landmark India-UK free trade deal.

In a post on X before the start of the session, Ramesh said, “Very shortly the nattily dressed Prime Minister will give his usual Desh ke Naam Sandesh through the media outside the Parliament Building before the commencement of the Monsoon Session of Parliament. This will be full of his usual platitudes and hypocrisy.”

“Prime Minister Modi is very, very, very rarely present in Parliament. He speaks once a year on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address. But this time he owes it to the country to be present when the issue of Pahalgam-Operation Sindoor-President Trump is finally taken up for discussion,” Ramesh said.

The Government on Sunday had indicated its willingness to discuss in Parliament Operation Sindoor, a key opposition demand at an all-party meeting on eve of the Monsoon session, even as the INDIA bloc insisted that Prime Minister Modi should respond on the matter as well as on the US President’s ‘ceasefire’ claims and SIR in Bihar.

The Congress on Sunday had demanded that Prime Minister Modi himself should respond to debates in Parliament’s Monsoon session on various issues, including Pahalgam attack, US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire claims and Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.

During the Monsoon session of Parliament, the Opposition is set to corner the government on several issues.

Leaders of the INDIA bloc also held a meeting to chalk out their joint strategy and present a united face in attacking the government on intelligence failures that resulted in the Pahalgam attack, Trump’s ceasefire claims, besides on SIR in Bihar.

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His remarks have further exposed the widening rift between Tharoor and the party’s Kerala leadership.

Speaking to reporters, Muraleedharan said, “Till he (Tharoor) changes his stance, we will not invite him to any party programme held in Thiruvananthapuram. He is not with us, so there is no question of him boycotting an event.”

The Congress Working Committee (CWC) member was, according to Muraleedharan, “no longer considered one of us.”

The senior leader’s statement comes at a critical juncture, with the Congress and the INDIA bloc preparing to confront the Modi government in the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament.

They are expected to highlight what they term a “security lapse” in the Pahalgam terror attacks and question the outcomes of the government’s high-profile Operation Sindoor.

Tharoor, who had led an all-party delegation to the Americas as part of Operation Sindoor, had earlier said at a public event in Kochi that national interest must come before partisan politics.

“We must always put the country first. Political parties exist to make countries better,” he said.

Tharoor’s position — including expressions of support for the armed forces and the central government on national security — has drawn sharp criticism from within his own party.

“Many have attacked me for putting the nation first. But I will stand my ground because I believe this is the right thing to do for the country,” Tharoor asserted, defending his stand.

However, his remarks have not gone down well with senior Congress leaders, including Muraleedharan, who recently criticised Tharoor for sharing a survey that projected him as the most preferred Chief Ministerial face of the UDF.

“He should first decide which party he belongs to,” Muraleedharan retorted. Adding to the tensions, Tharoor’s recent article criticising the late Indira Gandhi’s handling of the Emergency in a Malayalam daily had also sparked backlash within party ranks.

Calling for clarity, Muraleedharan said, “If he feels constrained within the Congress, he should choose a clear political path.”

The feud has now become a full-blown internal crisis, raising questions about Tharoor’s future in the party and further complicating Congress’s unity efforts in Kerala ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.

The post ‘Not with us’: Will not invite Tharoor to any party event in Kerala, says Muraleedharan appeared first on Greater Kashmir.

The Congress party, which is leading the coordination for the meeting, has decided to shift the event from an in-person gathering at Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence in New Delhi to a virtual format. This change has been made to ensure broader participation from Opposition leaders across the country.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 P.M. and will bring together senior leaders from key Opposition parties, including the Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Shiv Sena (UBT), Samajwadi Party (SP), Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction), and the Left parties.

Trinamool Congress National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee is also expected to attend the session. However, there remains uncertainty regarding the participation of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Congress MP and General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal confirmed the meeting details, stating that the top leadership of the INDIA Bloc will deliberate on key issues that will be raised during the upcoming Parliament session.

Congress MP Syed Naseer Hussain added that the meeting would serve as a strategic platform for leaders to align on their approach to counter the government’s agenda and highlight concerns related to democracy, governance, and electoral integrity.

One of the major concerns expected to dominate the discussion is the voter list revision in Bihar. The Opposition has strongly criticised the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls conducted by the Election Commission ahead of the state’s upcoming Assembly elections.

Congress MP Jairam Ramesh recently reignited the debate by accusing the Centre of attempting to manipulate the electoral process.

Referring to the SIR exercise in Bihar, Ramesh posted on X, “The Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls is a deliberate and diabolical move to rig the elections through large-scale disenfranchisement. A PM who masterminded ‘notebandi’ has orchestrated this ‘votebandi’”.

With the Monsoon Session set to begin soon, the meeting aims to set the tone for the Opposition’s parliamentary performance.

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Trump Monday reiterated his claim that he stopped the conflict between India and Pakistan, which could have turned into a “nuclear war”, through trade.

“We’ve been very successful in settling wars. You have India, (and) Pakistan. You have Rwanda and the Congo that was going on for 30 years,” Trump said during his meeting with NATO Secretary General Rutte in the Oval Office.

Tagging a video of Trump’s remarks, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Ramesh said, “65 days. 22 times. The same claim. It keeps getting repeated.”

In his remarks, Trump said, “India, by the way, Pakistan would have been a nuclear war within another week the way that was going. That was going very badly, and we did that through trade. I said, ‘we’re not going to talk to you about trade unless you get this thing settled’, and they did, and they were both great, great leaders, and they were great.”

Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a full and immediate ceasefire after a long night of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim more than a dozen times on several occasions that he helped settle the tensions between India and Pakistan.

However, India has been consistently maintaining that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two militaries.

In a nearly 35-minute phone call with Trump last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi firmly stated that India does not and will “never accept” mediation and that the discussions between Indian and Pakistani militaries on cessation of military actions were initiated at Islamabad’s request.

India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians.

India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.

The post 65 days, 22 times: Jairam Ramesh after Trump repeats India-Pak ceasefire claim appeared first on Greater Kashmir.

Sources said that the duo are returning to the party today.

Both leaders had parted ways with the Congress following the launch of Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Democratic Progressive Azad Party. However they stayed for a brief period there and contested the 2024 Assembly elections as independent candidates.

This rejoining comes on the heels of other prominent political figures—Choudhary Guzlar Khatana and Muhammad Amin Bhat—also returning to the Congress fold, boosting the party’s prospects in south Kashmir where National Conference (NC) won 10 of 16 seats in the 2024 elections. (KNO)

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