Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday threatened the BJP with a bigger “vote chori” exposé soon, promising to drop a “hydrogen bomb” as the over-two-week-long Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar culminated in Patna.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi would not be able to show his face to the people after we drop the hydrogen bomb of vote theft,” the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha said, claiming that the exposé would be much bigger than the allegations of fake voters in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment of Bengaluru that he had made last month. That revelation had been billed as an “atom bomb” by Rahul.

The BJP responded by accusing Rahul of “demeaning” the leader of the Opposition’s position with his “irresponsible” statements. “Why are you demeaning yourself as LoP? How are atom and hydrogen bombs related to elections?” former law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asked.

The Opposition leaders travelled in open SUVs as party cadres marched through Patna, raising slogans of “vote chor, gaddi chhod (vote thief, leave the chair)”. Rahul claimed the “vote chor” slogan was echoing even in China and the US as he sought to take a dig at Modi.

Apart from Rahul and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Jharkhand chief minister and JMM chief Hemant Soren, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and leaders of the INDIA bloc parties participated in the concluding session of the Yatra.

The Yatra was launched on August 17 in south Bihar’s Sasaram. The participants travelled over 1,300km covering 25 districts to mobilise public opinion against the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the poll-bound state.

Bihar is due for polls in October-November, and the Opposition has accused the BJP of colluding with the Election Commission to disenfranchise large numbers of poor voters through the revision exercise.

“The same forces that assassinated Mahatma Gandhi are now trying to murder the Constitution. We will not let them murder the Constitution at any cost. The ‘vote chor’ slogan has spread across the state,” Rahul said.

“The BJP people tried to show black flags during the Yatra. I want to tell the BJP people, have you heard of anything bigger than an atom bomb? It is a hydrogen bomb. BJP people, be ready, a hydrogen bomb is coming,” he said, stressing that people of the country would soon find out the reality of
vote theft.

Rahul said the Yatra had got a tremendous response from the people, particularly the youth. He said that they had come out in large numbers to raise the slogan of “vote chor, gaddi chhod”.

Speaking to ANI from atop an open SUV, the Congress leader went on to claim that the “vote chor” slogan was echoing even in China and the US, seeking to target Modi who was in China to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit.

“There is a new slogan in Bihar, ‘vote chor, gaddi chhod’,” Rahul told ANI. As the reporter sought to ask about Modi in China, the Congress leader said: “Even in China and America, people are saying ‘vote chor, gaddi chhod’.”