Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday likened the Election Commission (EC) to a “cheating cricket umpire” that cost his party the 2017 and 2022 Assembly polls in the state, senior leaders of the party said.The remarks were made by Gandhi in Anand district, at the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee’s (GPCC) inaugural session of a three-day training summit for newly-appointed district and city unit presidents of the party.AdvertisementCalling Gujarat the Gangotri (origin) of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Gandhi told the leaders present that the Congress has to work hard in the state and bring out the “truth” about the ruling party’s “bad governance”.According to senior Congress leaders, Gandhi said that for years, the Congress in Gujarat had been “like a cricketer, who wondered why he was adjudged out during his batting”. According to the leaders, Gandhi said that “getting out constantly makes (a cricketer) feel they were not good enough,” but the losses suffered by the Congress in Gujarat in 2017 and 2022 were “the doing of a cheating umpire (EC), which manipulated voter lists.”Gandhi said that the Congress workers were “babbar shers (lions)” who needed to “get back their roar”, senior leaders said.Gandhi urged the party workers to regroup and “go in the midst” of people to “clean the Ganges of politics from Gangotri — Gujarat”.AdvertisementIn his hour-long address at the closed-door session held in Nijanand resort, Gandhi likened the BJP-RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) combine to a temple, where devotees can pay obeisance but don’t have a say in “what or how much prasad” they will have.Most Congress leaders that The Indian Express spoke to stated that Gandhi’s mention of the EC in the context of “unfair results” in 2017 and 2022 struck a chord with party leaders.Congress’s Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Gujarat Assembly, Tushar Chaudhary told this newspaper that Gandhi emphasised that the party leaders must begin verification of voter rolls in advance. Chaudhary said, “Rahulji mentioned the fact that in 2017 and 2022, manipulated voter lists had a lot to do with the results… He enquired with us as to when we actually receive the electoral rolls. When he learnt that we receive it either on the last day or five days in advance, he said you can’t do anything or verify the list in such a short time…”Quoting Gandhi, Chaudhary said, “The issue of fake voters being added to electoral rolls is changing the results… incidents of 1.5 lakh fake voters found in Karnataka or Maharashtra were mentioned. So, it is a fact that when the updated electoral rolls are received, they have new voters who are of much older age whereas it should be young, first-time voters added to the list.”In his address, Gandhi said the BJP’s working model is like a temple. “You have the right to come to a temple, pay obeisance and bow your head; but how much prasad will be given to you is in the control of the BJP-RSS. They will see which caste one belongs to and decide how much prasad should be given… Adani or Ambani will be given different quantities of prasad (than the rest)… There is no right over the prasad. Whatever is mercifully given to you, you have to accept it. The BJP is being unjust to the people of Gujarat who are being told to visit the temple but no prasad is being given out…” Gandhi is said to have told the leaders.“The district presidents have been told to create awareness among people about the misadministration under the current BJP-led state government as well as the cheating that the Congress has suffered (at the hands of the EC),” a district president from Central Gujarat said.Gandhi told Gujarat Congress leaders that the BJP’s roots in the state should be the party’s goal in the upcoming Assembly polls. “Rahulji said that it has always been a presumption that if the BJP has to be defeated, one has to work hard in UP, Rajasthan and Karnataka. But the fact is that the BJP’s gangotri (origin) is in Gujarat and one has to work hard in the state and bring out the truth about their bad governance. The cleaning of the Ganga of politics can be done from Gujarat…,” GPCC Spokesperson Manish Doshi said.GPCC President Amit Chavda said Gandhi has urged the leaders to “go in the midst” of the people and “raise voice” in the support of those fighting injustice. “The three-day camp (in Anand) is part of Sangathan Srujan Abhiyan and Rahulji has urged that the party must be strengthened from root to top in Gujarat and that it should be oriented towards service to people. New leaders should be given the opportunity to work… The party wants to go in the midst of the people to fight the battle against injustice as in the last 30 years of the BJP’s rule in the state, there has been a government of fear, coercion and corruption with officer-raj and commission-raj going on in Gujarat,” Chavda said.“The presence of Rahulji on the first day of the three-day training camp shows how important Gujarat is for him. He has made it clear that in any district, any complaint of the people or any injustice must be taken up by the Congress. Wherever it is necessary, the state leaders, or Rahulji himself, will be by the side of the people… He told the leaders to go to the people. Take up issues related to misadministration and injustice and raise voice against it. On the last day of the Shibir (camp), the party will also put forth the entire roadmap for the state before the high command as well as the people,” Chavda added.most readGandhi, Congress leaders said, also met the members of the milk cooperative unions and urged them to “inform him whatever is needed to be done and if they need him to raise pressing issues related to cooperatives in the Lok Sabha.”Gandhi is the LoP in the Lok Sabha.Kin of bridge collapse victims meet Rahul GandhiThe families of some of the 21 victims of the Mujpur-Gambhira bridge collapse also arrived at the venue in Anand, where the Congress leader was meeting the milk cooperatives, to make representations to him. According to Congress leaders, the kin of the victims were “stopped by the police” from meeting Gandhi but later, they were allowed to proceed and make petitions regarding the incident. The families of some of the 21 victims of the Mujpur-Gambhira bridge collapse also arrived at the venue in Anand, where the Congress leader was meeting the milk cooperatives, to make representations to him. (Express Photo/Bhupendra Rana)Doshi said, “The police said that the victims could not be allowed to meet Gandhi as they did not have a security pass… At first, they were turned away but eventually, we managed to get them to meet Rahul ji, who expressed his solidarity with the families and assured them of assistance in their fight for justice in the incident.”