Amit Shah slams SIR protests, says Congress will suffer its fourth consecutive defeat in 2029

The Congress will suffer its fourth consecutive defeat, while the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will return to power with an overwhelming majority in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday (October 13, 2026), following the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) victory in Gujarat’s local body elections.

“The trust of the people cannot be earned through manufactured media events and the echo of falsehoods. Gathering 8,000 people within a 1.5-km area by bringing together cadres from 14 parties cannot be described as the voice of the nation,” he said.

Mr. Shah said the Congress should recognise that the voice of the nation also resonated in farms, villages, remote hills, forests and along riverbanks, where the principal Opposition had “little or no reach”. He cited Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu as States where, according to him, voters had repeatedly rejected the Congress over several decades.

The Home Minister questioned Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s allegations concerning the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, asking whether the BJP’s victory in Gujarat was also attributable to SIR. He said attempts were being made to undermine the popularity of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi by linking the party’s electoral successes to the revision process.

“Ever since Rahul Gandhi became the principal leader of the Congress, then its president, and now the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, the Congress has continued to lose elections. He needs to introspect,” Mr. Shah said.

‘Negative politics’