Rajnath Singh interview: ‘Turnout not low…if dip, it’s because Opposition hasn’t enthused their voters’

Noting that a voter turnout of 66-67% cannot be termed low, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the Opposition alliance has not been able to enthuse their supporters to come to the polling booth and vote and that they seemed to have lost faith in the Congress-led Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance as an alternative.

Having addressed 51 public meetings and covered 54 constituencies since elections were announced, Singh accused the Congress for spreading rumours that the BJP would change the Constitution. “It is under Congress rule that 85 amendments were made to the Constitution. They changed the Preamble, the soul of the Constitution… you are trying to blame us now,” Singh said in an interview Saturday morning to The Indian Express.

He said Congress was creating fear and confusion among people by floating concepts like “wealth distribution” and “inheritance tax” which he said “could lead to economic recession and discourage people from creating wealth”.

It was this that forced BJP leaders to explain things in the “language understood by the people”, Singh, one of the most senior ministers in the Cabinet, said responding to a question on the plunging level of political discourse.

Addressing an election rally in Rajasthan in April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had targeted the Congress and said if voted to power, that party could distribute the nation’s wealth among “infiltrators” and “those who have more children”. “Brothers and sisters, this Urban Naxal thinking will not spare even the mangal sutra of my mothers and sisters,” he had said.

“Try to understand the context. Sam Pitroda talked about inheritance tax. You tell me, will it not lead to economic recession… Certain words are used to make people