Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday slammed the BJP-led Centre claiming it uses the ED, CBI and the Income Tax Department to stop his party from coming to power in elections.

Addressing a campaign rally in the Baikunthpur constituency of Chhattisgarh, Mr Kharge also alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the RSS have been trying to change the Constitution.

To stop them, Congress’ victory is necessary in elections to five states, including Chhattisgarh, he said.

Voting was held on Tuesday for the Mizoram elections and for the first phase of Chhattisgarh polls. Polling for the second phase in Chhattisgarh, as well as elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana are scheduled for later this month.

“This election is going to change the future of the country and it is very important as the BJP government, Modi ji and RSS have been trying to change the Constitution. They are trying to remove (provisions) which are in the interest of the poor and deprived people,” he alleged.

To stop them, it is necessary to bring the Congress to power in the five states, including Chhattisgarh, Mr Kharge said.

“Modi ji says he has done so many things and asks what the Congress has done for the country. He takes the name of Congress at least 50 times in every speech as he is scared of the Congress,” he said.

To prevent the Congress from coming to power in elections and to target its workers and leaders, the BJP-led Centre uses the ED, I-T department and CBI, he alleged.

“But we are not going to be scared. The Congress will stand firmly and Bhupesh Baghel will again become the chief minister (of Chhattisgarh). Whoever the high command wants, will come (on the top post). We will fulfil our promises like we did the last time,” he added.

“In Hyderabad, I had said our one candidate is contesting from one constituency, but the BJP has fielded three candidates (from one segment) and they are the ED, I-T and CBI,” Kharge claimed.

He alleged that the BJP divides people and makes one religion fight with another for votes.

“Modi ji says it is difficult to celebrate festivals in Chhattisgarh. Which festival is difficult to celebrate and for whom? He is saying this to instigate the people,” Mr Kharge said.

“PM Modi says his party is the party of Hindus, he says this deliberately. Are we not Hindus? the Congress leader asked.

“My name is Mallikarjun Kharge. Mallikarjun is the name of Lord Shiva. Whom are you (PM) deceiving? Why are you lying? If you keep saying this again and again, then there will be hatred in the minds of children of the country,” he said.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took out the Bharat Jodo yatra against hatred, he said, adding the BJP has no answer to the march led by Gandhi.

The first phase of polling in 20 out of the total 90 seats in the Congress-ruled state was held on Tuesday.

Polling in the remaining 70 seats, including Baikunthpur, will be held on November 17.

A 30-year-old woman delivered a baby on a road in Mumbai’s Kurla area on Thursday prompting the police to rush the mother and her newborn to a civic hospital, an official said.

An official from VB Nagar police station said they were informed in the afternoon about a woman giving birth to a baby near Kamani Junction.

The woman, identified as Suvarna Mirgal, became unconscious after the delivery. 

The Nirbhaya Squad of the police station rushed to the spot and shifted her and the infant to the nearby civic hospital, he said, adding that both are doing fine.

Later, senior inspector Rajeen Chavan and other officials visited the woman and her baby at the hospital, he said.

Hollywood actress Gal Gadot facilitated a Los Angeles screening of a film showing the October 7 surprise attack on Southern Israel by the Hamas group. However, the screening was marred as multiple fights broke out in conjunction.  

The 43-minute film “Bearing Witness” featured “extremely graphic and violent” footage documenting the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7th, 2023, ABC News reported. The media outlet said that some of it included footage shot by members of Hamas. 

Videos going viral on the internet shows two groups clashing outside the city’s Museum of Tolerance on Pico Boulevard.

Gal Gadot is said to be involved in organising the screening. However, the actress did not attend the screening in person, the media outlet reported.

The ‘Wonder Woman’ actress, who is an Israeli faced backlash on social media for supporting genocide. 

Anti-Israel protesters are physically attacking Jews attending a screening of the Oct. 7th Hamas Massacre organized by actress Gal Gadot at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. pic.twitter.com/SIZbTyiKL9

— Catherine Da Costa (@catmag18) November 9, 2023

According to The Hollywood Reporter, some 200 people were in attendance at the screening, where there was a heavy security presence. An official with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, and Hollywood executives were among those reported to have attended the event.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said we must stand together. “We cannot allow current worldwide tension to devolve into this unacceptable violence in our city,” she wrote on X. “This is a time of immense pain and distress for thousands of Angelenos. We must stand together.”

Although Ms Gadot, who served in the Israeli Defence Forces before pursuing acting, has not issued a statement about the same, several people have slammed her for not talking about the Palestinian death toll and the atrocities faced by the people living in Gaza. 

As per Israeli authorities, more than 1,400 people have been killed and 240 have been held hostage in Gaza since the war began a month ago. The Gaza death number has soared above 10,000, mostly civilians, said the Hamas-run health ministry, as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the war-torn coastal strip was becoming a “graveyard for children”. Israel has vowed to destroy the Islamist operatives over their unprecedented attack which witnessed entire families killed inside their homes and young people killed at a music festival, according to Israeli officials.