Patna: Vikassheel Insaan Party chief Mukesh Sahani on Thursday defended his remark that “he would shoot Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar”, as he accused him of destroying the country for which scores of people have laid down their lives.
Earlier in the day, Sahani triggered a row by saying that he would have shot Gyanesh Kumar if he were permitted to get away with one murder.
This comes a day after a media report claimed that two Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, had “objected on record” to several decisions taken by the poll panel, allegedly without their knowledge.
Speaking to IANS, Mukesh Sahani defended his outburst, saying: “Certainly, I said that if the Constitution of the country allowed one murder to be forgiven, then I would shoot Gyanesh Kumar. Because at present, he is intent on destroying the country, a nation for which our ancestors were martyred…If anyone comes to destroy this country, we — as descendants of the brave Phoolan Devi — will not hesitate to take up arms.”
Asserting that elections are for the people and not politicians, he said: “Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar enshrined a right in the Constitution that if politicians fail to address the people’s needs, break promises, or fail to perform their duties, the people possess the power to throw them out of office. Despite this, people of the country are being deceived…fair elections are not being conducted.”
Alleging that lakhs of crores of rupees are spent on elections, Sahani targeted the BJP-led Centre and the Election Commission of India.
“You are essentially throwing the people’s money down the drain.”
Referring to the 2025 Bihar Assembly polls, the VIP chief claimed: “In Bihar, the public had resolved to oust the BJP; yet, the election process was manipulated by using money and deleting the names of lakhs of voters in order to bring in a BJP-led government.”
“Similarly, in Bengal, 27 lakh votes were deleted based on caste and religion, and central forces were mobilised to sway votes in the BJP’s favour,” he alleged.
Moreover, he warned that if anyone in this country acts like the British or Hitler, the nation’s youth will not remain silent.
“If the Constitution had not been there, I would have shot him (Gyanesh Kumar) myself…This country belongs to 1.5 billion people; he (Gyanesh Kumar) cannot do whatever he wants. If everything were to be done according to his whims, then why do we even need the Election Commissioners?” Sahani remarked.
(IANS)
