Lucknow, Oct. 17 -- Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Friday attacked the Opposition Congress over protests against chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll, saying they raise serious questions. He accused the Opposition of wanting to push youth into anarchy to grab power. "This fight is not for electoral reforms, not for SIR, not against Gyanesh Kumar, not for bright future of youth. It is a conspiracy to grab power. In democracy there is no licence to spread anarchy and attack constitutional institutions," Singh said in Lucknow. "The youth are being made pawns in the politics of anarchy," he added. Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets seeking Kumar's removal and the scrapping of SIR even as authorities ordered Metro closures, Internet shutdowns, imposed prohibitory orders and deployed 40,000 security personnel to turn Delhi into a virtual fortress. Many protesters were dragged, manhandled and detained as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) blamed the Opposition for trying to deflect attention from its electoral failures. Singh said institutions are being defamed and called it political opportunism. "Rahul Gandhi should do introspection. This is my suggestion. We have chosen a path of dialogue, not confrontation, for nation building," he said. Singh referred to the state of Emergency in the 1970s and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots as unpardonable crimes under the Congress patronage. He also cited the Congress's role in saving the Samajwadi Party government after the 1990 firing on volunteers who converged on Ayodhya as part of the Ram temple campaign. Singh said the Congress is committing the fourth unpardonable crime by hurting the Constitution, constitutional values and institutions. "In 1975 [Prime Minister] Indira Gandhi put democracy behind bars [during the state of Emergency]. Today Rahul Gandhi keeps the Constitution in his pocket and tries to spread anarchy". Singh accused the Congress of making the Election Commission its puppet. "There was a recommendation to remove Naveen Chawla as an election commissioner [in 2009] over the allegation that he shared information with Congress. Congress elevated him to the post of chief election commissioner."...