CM Rekha Gupta shares Amit Shah's dig at Congress over Diwali rally
Synopsis
Delhi CM Rekha Gupta amplified Home Minister Amit Shah's sharp attack on Congress and the INDI alliance for ignoring trader requests to hold a rally after Diwali, when Delhi records roughly ₹25,000 crore in commerce. Shah also cited Congress's failure to win a single Delhi seat across three consecutive elections.
Key Takeaways
Home Minister Amit Shah accused Congress and the INDI alliance of ignoring Delhi traders' requests to hold a rally after Diwali.
The Diwali window of 3-4 days generates approximately ₹25,000 crore in trade across Delhi, according to the statement.
Shah stated Congress has failed to win a single seat in Delhi across the last three elections .
He warned the public would similarly reject Congress in the next three elections .
Delhi CM Rekha Gupta shared the remarks on X, amplifying the BJP's messaging to the trading community.
Congress and the INDI alliance had not issued a public response to the specific allegation at the time of posting.
With Delhi's festive trade season at its peak, Union Home Minister Amit Shah took direct aim at the Congress party and the INDI alliance on Sunday, 1 November 2026, accusing them of ignoring repeated pleas from the capital's trader community to schedule a rally after Diwali — a period he said generates roughly ₹25,000 crore in commerce. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta amplified the remarks on X, putting the charge squarely in front of her followers.
The ₹25,000-crore window Congress allegedly ignored
Shah's statement, as shared by CM Gupta, is pointed: 'Dilli ke vyapariyon ne kayi baar anurodh kiya ki Deepawali ke baad rally aayojit ki jaye' — 'Delhi's traders repeatedly requested that the rally be held after Diwali.' The reason cited is concrete: the three-to-four days around Diwali account for nearly ₹25,000 crore in trade across the capital. Holding a large political rally during that window, the argument goes, disrupts footfall, logistics, and commerce at precisely the moment merchants depend on most.
The allegation is that those requests were 'left unheard' (ansuni ki gayi) — a deliberate slight to a constituency, the trading community, that both BJP and Congress have long courted in Delhi.
Three elections without a win — and Shah's three-more warning
Shah did not stop at the rally grievance. He reached for Congress's Delhi electoral record, noting that the party has failed to 'open its account' (khata nahi khula) across the last three consecutive elections in the capital. The warning that follows is equally blunt: the public will not back them in the next three elections either.
The framing is a staple of BJP's electoral messaging in Delhi — one that pairs governance optics with opposition missteps to reinforce a narrative of disconnect. Linking a rally date to trader losses is a sharper version of that argument: it puts a rupee figure on what the opposition's politics allegedly costs ordinary Delhiites.
Why Delhi's trader vote still matters
Delhi's commercial districts — from Chandni Chowk to Lajpat Nagar — record their highest annual turnover in the days around Diwali. Trader associations in the capital have historically been a vocal and organised constituency. Any party seen as indifferent to their peak business days risks paying a price at the booth. By elevating Shah's remarks, CM Gupta is signalling that the BJP intends to press this contrast hard ahead of the next electoral cycle.
Congress and the INDI alliance have not yet responded publicly to the specific allegation about rally timing.
Point of View
Relayed by CM Gupta, reflects a well-worn BJP tactic of using trader grievances to paint the opposition as out of touch with Delhi's economic rhythms — but the Diwali-trade angle gives it an unusually specific monetary peg. Attaching a ₹25,000 crore figure to opposition scheduling turns an abstract political complaint into a tangible commercial grievance, one that resonates with small and mid-size merchants. The three-elections-lost reminder sharpens the attack into an electoral forecast, preemptively framing any future Congress campaign as doomed. Together, the two arguments are designed to erode Congress's credibility with two key urban audiences simultaneously: the business community and the swing voter looking for competence signals.
NationPress
1 Nov 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did Amit Shah criticise Congress over the Diwali rally?
Amit Shah alleged that Congress and the INDI alliance ignored repeated requests from Delhi traders to schedule their rally after Diwali, a period when Delhi's trade peaks at around ₹25,000 crore over three to four days.
How much business does Delhi do during Diwali?
According to Amit Shah's statement shared by CM Rekha Gupta, Delhi records approximately ₹25,000 crore in commerce during the three to four days around Diwali.
What is Congress's election record in Delhi according to BJP?
Amit Shah stated that Congress has failed to win a single seat — 'khata nahi khula' — across the last three consecutive Delhi elections, and predicted the same outcome for the next three.
What is the INDI alliance?
The INDIA alliance is an opposition coalition formed in 2023 that includes Congress and several other parties, formed with the aim of presenting a united front against the BJP at the national level.
