'400 paar' claim by BJP raises doubts about democratic process, EVMs: Kanhaiya Kumar

The BJP's claim that it will win more than 400 seats in the Lok Sabha polls has created doubts among people about the country's democratic process and electronic voting machines (EVMs), Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar said on Saturday.

In order to protect the Constitution, which the BJP wants to change in order to snatch the fundamental rights of the people, there is a need to transform the 2024 Lok Sabha polls into a mass movement, he added.

Kumar was addressing a rally in Bhadaura village in Chhattisgarh for his party's Bilaspur Lok Sabha candidate Devendra Yadav.

"How does he (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) know his party will get 400 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. Is he an astrologer? Such acts raise doubts about the democratic process," Kumar claimed, adding that he had met several people during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra who said they had voted for the Congress but saw the "lotus bloom in their areas".

"People are asking whether the EVM machine is fine or not. They are questioning the credibility of the EVMs," Kumar claimed.

On one hand, the BJP is seeking votes and on the other, it proclaims it will win more than 400 seats, Kumar said. "It seems as if they are not asking for votes but threatening us (the general public). It is the arrogance of power and an insult to the country's citizens," he claimed.

The way General Dyer was thrown out by freedom fighters, "general kayar (coward) can also be driven out", Kumar said, without taking names.

He was referring to brigadier-general Reginald Dyer, who ordered his troops to open fire upon an unarmed gathering at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar on 13 April 1919. The action resulted in the deaths of several hundred people, and sent shockwaves across the world.