The statement said, “There was a strong anti-Modi wave but suddenly everything changed between December 15 evening and 17th morning. To the best of my understanding and experience of working as a social-political activist for 30 years the overnight reversal and the following victory of the communal -fascist regime was not possible without the connivance of the political party that leads the UPA.”
Hashmi has been camping in Gujarat following the 2002 riots and this year had worked on the anti-Modi ‘Bole Gujarat’ campaign. She had particularly campaigned for suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt’s wife Shweta who contested the Maninagar seat against Modi on a Congress ticket. She is also founder of the NGO Act now for Harmony and Democracy (ANHAD).
Hashmi told The Indian Express on phone from Delhi that she suspected the EVMs were manipulated in 25-30 seats. Asked what she thought happened between December 15-17, she said, “Modi’s body language changed in that period. It seemed he had got the go ahead on the cracking of the counting of votes (favourably).” She said this could not have happened without the involvement of “a part of the Congress”.
She did not explain why a section of the Congress would help the BJP win the polls. “I don’t have answers for that. My suspicion arise from the feedback on the ground,” she said.
She also referred to the presence of a large number of foreign diplomats and journalists in Gujarat just before the polls and demanded an independent investigation into this.
She said she had resigned from the Central Advisory Board of Education, the Maulana Azad Education Foundation, Ministry of Minority Affairs, National Monitoring Committee for Minority Education and National Literacy Mission Council, MHRD and Assessment and Monitoring Authority, Planning Commission of India.