From liquor to ‘Sheesh Mahal’, Rahul hits out

The senior Congress leader also hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for allegedly sidelining President Droupadi Murmu because she has a tribal origin.

Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday at rallies in east Delhi’s Patparganj and Okhla assembly constituencies.

Rahul Gandhi (Congress-X)

The senior Congress leader also hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for allegedly sidelining President Droupadi Murmu because she has a tribal origin.

Addressing a public gathering in support of the Congress’s Patparganj candidate Chaudhary Anil Kumar, Gandhi said that the AAP chief Kejriwal promised a “different kind of politics” but instead led the “biggest liquor scam of the country”. “Kejriwal used to come in a small car and promise a new kind of politics. If you remember, he climbed on an electricity pole against corruption. He is now involved in the biggest liquor scam this country has seen. When Modi ji threw me out of my house, I handed over the keys and said I didn’t need it, but Kejriwal lived in a Sheesh Mahal that everyone has seen,” Gandhi said.

The comments about the liquor case and the “Sheesh Mahal” particularly stood out since the Congress and the AAP are part of the larger INDIA bloc of Opposition parties and fought the Lok Sabha polls together.

The AAP alleged that the liquor scam case is fake. “Modi ji put me in jail in a fake case. Why did you and your family not get caught in the National Herald case? Why did Robert Vadra get a clean chit from the BJP?” Kejriwal wrote in a post on X.

Gandhi also alleged that the BJP did not conduct a caste census because it favoured the rich and did nothing for the poor. Stressing that Dalits, tribals, minorities and backwards form 90% of the country’s population, he said that the wealth is with the other 8-10%. He assured the gathering that the Congress will get a caste census done in states where it is elected.

“A total of around 90% Indians are from these groups, but the BJP government is mum over our demand for a caste census. All the wealth is congregated with the rich businessmen. Is there any big MNC owner or top management from any of these communities?” he said, adding that the BJP sidelined the President as she is a Dalit.

“When the Ram temple in Ayodhya was inaugurated, President Murmu was not allowed around it. We saw Ambani, Adani and other big personalities but the President was not there because she is an adivasi. Even when the new Parliament building was inaugurated, Modi ji did not let President Murmu inaugurate it,” Gandhi claimed.

The BJP hit back and said that Gandhi does not have a clear stand. “While he is saying all this today, he contested an election in alliance with the AAP last year. Rahul Gandhi needs to be more clear in his thoughts and his stand on various issues,” Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said.

At the Okhla rally, supporting candidate Ariba Khan, Gandhi said that Kejriwal was afraid of PM Narendra Modi. “Other parties, I don’t know whether they are afraid of Modi or not, but Kejriwal is afraid of him.”

Kejriwal wrote in the X post, “The country knows who is a coward and who is brave.”