‘Don’t blame SIR, Congress will lose 2029 too’: Amit Shah tells Rahul Gandhi after Gujarat local poll results

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday hit back at Rahul Gandhi over his allegations on the Election Commission and Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and advised the Congress MP to introspect instead for his party’s defeats in successive elections.

Shah made the remarks after the BJP won 90 of 104 seats across three urban local bodies in Gujarat, including 38 of the 44 seats in the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation, and predicted that the Congress would lose the 2029 Lok Sabha elections also.

“The SIR only came into effect after 2024. Ever since you emerged as the principal leader of the Congress and subsequently Leader of the Opposition, the party has consistently lost elections,” Shah told reporters in Delhi.

“I also wish to ask Rahul ji: is this the result of an SIR? You dismiss the popularity of the BJP and (PM Narendra) Modi ji by attributing it to ‘SIR’. You need to introspect,” he said.

“In Tripura, the Congress hasn't had a Chief Minister in 33 years. In Bengal, the Congress hasn’t won in 54 years. In Gujarat, the Congress has consistently lost for five decades, since 1985,” he said.

Congress has not won an election in Gujarat for 41 years

Shah said the Congress had also lost elections when ballot papers were used. He accused the Congress of engaging in negative politics and called it an “anti-democracy” and “anti-Constitution” party.

Shah said the Congress had not won an election in Gujarat for 41 years.

“I want to make this point clear—and specifically convey it to Rahul ji—that the Congress party has not won a single election in 41 years. The last election they won was back in 1985; since then, they have faced continuous defeats in Gujarat,” Shah said.

Rahul Gandhi has been spearheading the INDIA bloc’s protest demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

He has also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah of shielding Kumar and pressuring the Election Commission.

BJP wins 90 of the 104 seats; AAP loses deposit in all 32 seats

Shah said the BJP secured a decisive victory in elections held for three municipalities and municipal corporations and won 90 of the 104 seats across the two municipalities and one municipal corporation.

Shah said the Aam Aadmi Party contested all 32 seats but forfeited its security deposit in all of them.

“This massive victory in Gujarat reflects the mood of the state’s voters, demonstrating that the electorate of Gujarat stands rock-solid behind Narendra Modi ji," Shah said.

He added that the BJP had increased its vote share in the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation by 10 percentage points compared with the previous election.

The Home Minister also referred to Congress’s defeats in bypolls in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, arguing that the party needed to examine the reasons behind its performance.

Shah also referred to the BJP’s performance in Rajasthan’s local body elections, claiming that the party had secured a thumping majority there.

He further accused Rahul Gandhi of being unable to accept Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity.

‘Protests will not help Congress regain public support’

Taking a swipe at Rahul Gandhi’s student outreach programme, ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’, Shah said, “You can no longer gain the trust of the people by fabricating media events and ‘Jhooth Ki Goonj’.”

He said protests and allegations would not help the Congress party regain public support.

“I want to tell Rahul Gandhi and his colleagues to once again prepare for a crushing defeat in the 2029 general elections. The NDA is poised to win with a landslide majority, and the Congress is set to lose for the fourth consecutive time,” he said.

The Union Home Minister argued that the Congress’s series of electoral setbacks could not be attributed solely to allegations on voter lists or EVMs.

He pointed to the use of ballot papers in Tripura’s local polls and said the BJP’s performance there countered claims that its victories depended on EVMs.

Shah also said that Rahul could not claim to represent the country by mobilising Opposition leaders and supporters for the anti-SIR protests in Delhi. “The nation’s voice is in the fields, barns, villages, remote hills, forests, and even on the banks of rivers. You have no reach there,” he said.

He also accused Rahul Gandhi of trying to protect infiltrators by trying to stall the SIR exercise.