Ground report: Rahul’s ‘hydrogen bomb’ may involve Haryana shockers

As he concluded his 17-day Voter Adhikar Yatra in Patna on Monday (September 1), with his coalition partners in tow, Lok Sabha’s Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi warned Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP, and its supporters of an impending “hydrogen bomb” explosion.

Addressing a sea of supporters at Patna’s Dak Bungalow, Rahul reiterated his charge of an alleged collusion between the Election Commission and the ruling BJP for “vote chori” (vote theft). Reminding his audience and rivals alike of the explosive revelations he made two months ago about alleged irregularities in the electoral rolls of Karnataka’s Mahadevapura assembly segment, likening them to an “atom bomb”, Rahul said he was now ready to drop a “hydrogen bomb”.

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‘Documentary evidence’ coming up

The assertion by the Congress leader came just when a group of people, ostensibly BJP supporters, present at the Opposition’s public meeting began waving black flags. “BJP people are showing black flags... they should listen, there is a hydrogen bomb bigger than the atom bomb and it is coming. The whole country is going to know the truth of vote theft. After the hydrogen bomb, Narendra Modi will not be able to show his face to the country,” Rahul announced.

Congress sources later confirmed to The Federal that Rahul is likely to come up with “documentary evidence to prove massive irregularities in the voter rolls” in Haryana during the assembly polls in the state, much like the expose he had made regarding the Mahadevapura assembly constituency.

Sources said Rahul could convene a press conference to highlight the alleged voter roll manipulation in Haryana “within the next few days, possibly on September 4”.

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Eye on electoral rolls

The Federal had reported earlier that to keep up the momentum that the Congress and the wider Opposition’s campaign against “vote chori” has gathered in recent months, Rahul has asked a team of Congress volunteers and members of the party’s research wing to scrutinise the electoral rolls in a cross-section of assembly and parliamentary constituencies spread across the country.

Rahul is convinced that a close scrutiny of electoral rolls would reveal rampant irregularities similar to the ones the Congress detected in the Mahadevapura assembly constituency. His priority are the constituencies spread across Maharashtra and Haryana, the two states where the Congress had performed well during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls — only to face a humiliating rout in the assembly polls that followed a few months later.

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Voter lists being scrutinised

The party is also analysing voter data of nearly 25 Lok Sabha seats across the country where the Congress nominee had lost the Lok Sabha polls by less than 50,000 votes. The Congress’s Rajasthan unit chief Govind Singh Dotasra had confirmed to The Federal earlier that voter lists in Jaipur Rural, Bikaner, and Alwar Lok Sabha constituencies were being analysed by party leaders and research volunteers.

Sources said Rahul is keen that any discrepancies found across constituencies in different states must be publicised before the media in a staggered manner. This, sources close to Rahul say, will allow the Congress and its allies in the INDIA bloc, to keep public attention focused on revelations about alleged electoral malpractices and manipulation by the EC at the BJP’s behest.