What lay scattered on the road outside the Ramilia grounds was the reputation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the supreme leader of India. Informal conversations portrayed Modi as a leader who fooled the people with false promises and inflicted irreparable damages to the democratic fabric; a leader whose ouster had become a national priority. The country has never seen such anger and disgust against somebody who was once a darling of the masses.While thousands of placards showcased that anger by clubbing Modi with chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, people called down curses on both, insisting that they deserve to be punished for their crime against democracy. Rahul Gandhi declared that Kumar will rot in jail for treason and legal consequences will catch up Modi and Amit Shah, but he was late by a few hours. Ordinary people who walked with him from Connaught Place to the Ramlila grounds had forcefully expressed that desire on the way.Men, women, youth, politicians, workers, farmers – every section of society expressed deep anguish and a desire for requisite punishment for those responsible for bringing India to this miserable state in which 13 crore names have been unprecedentedly struck off the voter rolls.The anger was not restricted to vote chori (theft) alone; if somebody was livid with divisive politics, others narrated financial struggles for survival. “Rozgar kha gaye, exam-paper kha gaye, chanda chadhava kha gaye, port-airport kha gaye, vote kha gaye, ab Tata ko khana chahte hain. Bahut bada pet ho gaya hai? (They gobbled up jobs, votes, temple donations, ports and airports, people’s votes and are now itching to capture the Tata group. Has their stomach become so big?)” an angry young man complained.A tribal girl, barely pushing 18, carried a poster reading: “Wo order karta hai, ye deliver karta hai (He orders and this man delivers).” The photographs on the poster, of Modi and Kumar, left no scope for doubt. Oblivious to the messaging in her placard, she said, “Loot liya Modi. Sab kuchh (Modi has looted it all).”A young Muslim boy who came from Assam raised a bigger point: “The India our ancestors knew was so inclusive, sober and compassionate. Now we feel pained to see the toxic politicking everywhere. We so desperately want India to get normal.” A group that came from Telangana said, “Jobs have vanished. Modi’s lies can’t give us livelihood.”Farmers flew in rage as soon as there was a mention of the promise, and claim, of doubling their income. An old farmer from Bhiwani, who is also the sarpanch of his village, burst out:“Tang ho riyo iski jhooth–beimani se. Barah saal mein ek bar sach bolyo ho to batao. Aisa jhootha dekha nahin. Nafrat ho gai ib. Khaat–beez ka paisa bhi na nikle (His lies and deception have frustrated us. Tell us if he has ever spoken the truth in 12 years. Never saw such a liar. Now we feel hatred for him. We barely manage money for seeds and cots.)”He asserted that whatever irrigation facilities and other infrastructure that farmers in Punjab and Haryana enjoyed were created by Congress governments. “Ask Modi if he has constructed even a pond,” the old man muttered.Another group of farmers, who came from Morena in Madhya Pradesh, erupted in anger when told that Modi claimed only two days ago his government didn’t allow fertiliser prices to go up despite international crises. One of them said,“Tees–chaalis kilometre door ka parchi kaatate hain char katte khaad ke liye. Rs 1,355 sarkari rate hai aur Rs 2,100 mein milta hai. Wo bhi kabhi ek, kabhi do. Transport ka kharcha alag (They give us chits for four bags to be picked up from places 30 or 40 kilometres away. The official rate is Rs 1,355 and we are forced to pay Rs 2,100 per bag. Add to that the transportation cost.”Another farmer said nobody got adequate fertilisers and that will affect production this season. They fiercely complained about rising input costs that turned farming into a nightmare. “We bought diesel for Rs 40-50 a litre during Manmohan Singh’s government and Modi sells it for Rs 100. That doles he gives as Kisan Nidhi is peanuts compared to high input costs. Every single farmer of the country wants him out now,” the youngest of them contended.Protesters at the Ramlila rally. Photo: Shome Basu.While energy and passion defined the protesters, guessing the size of the crowd in terms of numbers became irrelevant. While the Congress had initially claimed ten lakh people would come, it is difficult to spell out the exact number. But there were enough people sitting and relaxing on the roads between Minto Bridge and the Ramlila Grounds, not even trying to enter the meeting venue, who could make any rally successful.Thousands and thousands jostled to get a glimpse of Rahul when he passed by, triggering whispers from many people that they never witnessed such a crowd in their life. An ex-MLA from Sasaram said at least 10,000 people came only from Bihar. The Congress is perhaps the weakest in Bihar and if that state sent 10,000 people, it is not difficult to imagine how many came from Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.The election-bound Uttar Pradesh stole the show because even the Samajwadi Party’s presence was enormous. The leftist parties too were present in big numbers.The credit, however, must be given to the Congress, which showed both the mettle and strength to counter the colossus that the BJP has become under Modi. Despite the sinister ‘Congress-mukt Bharat’ agenda and shocking electoral outcomes in 2014 and 2019, Rahul has resurrected the party and built a formidable challenge to the RSS-BJP’s hegemonic control.Rahul was treated with suspicion and ridicule by the BJP and the mainstream media when he first raised the vote-theft issue, but it has ultimately become the defining feature of political discourse today. While Modi never looked so vulnerable in the last 12 years, Rahul has succeeded in dragging the nation out of the political coma it was slipping into. Even democratic institutions, whose conduct has not been inspiring over the last decade, must have received an alarming message after this public awakening.While all the opposition parties have extended support, Rahul is working on a strategy to minimise the fear in people’s minds by repeatedly talking about punishment to all those who colluded in hijacking India’s democracy.That sentiment dominates the public imagination as well; intellectuals as well as the unlettered, the rich and the poor, the young and the old who participated in today’s rally talked about the need to award exemplary punishment to everybody who attacked citizens’ rights and freedoms in any manner. The disenfranchisement of millions of people, they felt, is an unpardonable sin.Sanjay K. Jha is a political commentator.