Will Congress apologise? Kiren Rijiju after Minta Devi fumes at t-shirt protest

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju blasted the Congress party and opposition MPs on Wednesday for “mocking” Minta Devi, the face of the INDIA bloc’s protest against “vote chori” on Tuesday, a day after she raged at them for selling t-shirts with her on them.

In a post on X, Rijiju wrote, “Whole day Congress and opposition MPs used the photo of Minta Devi, mocked her that she is 124 years old!…Will Congress apologise to the nation?”

Rijiju also made fun of the Congress’ recent decision to fire Karnataka minister KN Rajanna for acknowledging voting list errors while the party was in power in the state. “Congress Minister in Karnataka has also accused his own Congress Government,” Rijiju stated in his letter.

At a demonstration against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar’s voter registers, opposition MPs, led by Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, used the photograph of Minta Devi, a Bihar native, sparking controversy.

Devi’s picture and the words “124 not out,” which relate to her being mistakenly classified as 124 years old on the voter list, were displayed on T-shirts worn by a number of INDIA bloc MPs during the demonstration in New Delhi

In response, Minta Devi blasted the opposition MPs for using her picture without permission as well as the clerical error in the Election Commission’s data. Devi made fun of the administrative mistake and went on to say that the government ought to start paying her an old-age pension if they really thought she was 124 years old.

Block parties in India accused the Election Commission of working with the ruling BJP to remove voters in a discriminatory manner, which prompted the protest against the SIR. Their claims are supported by Rahul Gandhi’s thorough presentation, which included poll boy data to show significant inconsistencies in the voter list. However, the poll panel has refuted these claims, claiming that the process of revising the voter list was carried out in a completely transparent manner.

Opposition MPs attempted to march to the Election Commission’s office during the demonstration, which was held during Parliament’s session. However, the Delhi police arrested them in the middle.