BJP likens Rahul Gandhi to ‘Joseph Goebbels’ over Election Commission remarks

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday (August 10, 2025) termed Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi “a new avatar of Joseph Goebbels”, Adolf Hitler’s propagandist, accusing him of levelling uncalled for and false charges against the Election Commission of India (ECI).

BJP spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sudhanshu Trivedi made the remarks while questioning Mr. Gandhi over his allegations that nearly one lakh votes were “stolen” in one Assembly segment of the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat, and asking whether he had shared the list with anyone.

Mr. Trivedi said the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance Opposition bloc has more than 1.6 lakh booth-level agents in Bihar, but had not been able to substantiate its allegations against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in the State, even after 10 days of the draft list being published by the ECI.

“A perpetual youngster of Indian politics who is consistently demeaning and degrading constitutional institutions. A new avatar of Goebbels...,” he said. Mr. Gandhi had destroyed the dignity of the office of the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Trivedi alleged.

The Congress, meanwhile, has launched a web portal for people to register to demand accountability from the ECI against what it has termed “vote chori”, and to express support for the Leader of the Opposition’s demand for digital voter rolls.

In a post in Hindi on social media platform X, Mr. Gandhi said “vote theft” is an attack on the basic democratic principle of “one person, one vote”, and asserted that a clean voters’ list is essential for free and fair elections.