INDIA bloc announces nationwide rallies
Congress-led Opposition INDIA bloc on Wednesday announced joint ‘save democracy’ marches in all districts and five major rallies, demanded that future polls be held with ballot paper, and appealed to the Supreme Court to expedite cases of SIR and electoral “malpractices”.
At a meeting attended by leaders of as many as 19 political parties that lasted over three-and-a-half hours, it was decided that all Opposition MPs will march to the Election Commission on October 6 and the leaders would meet the President to highlight the issues related to alleged irregularities in voter list revision.
The Opposition grouping discussed the demand for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation and said they will not relent till he is ousted.
The meeting was attended by top party leaders - Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, besides TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, besides left leaders.
A few, including Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Jharkhand Chief Minister and JMM chief Hemant Soren, participated in the meeting online, as they could not be physically present. “With unanimity, everyone vowed to fight together,” Kharge said while addressing a joint briefing by the bloc leaders after their meeting,
The parties that attended the meeting were the Congress, Samajwadi Party, All India Trinamool Congress, NCP(SP), Shiv Sena (UBT), Rashtriya Janata Dal, CPI(M), CPI, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, CPI-ML, IUML, Kerala Congress (M), Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Kerala Congress (Jacob) and All India Forward Bloc. Independent Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal also attended the meeting.
The Congress chief said they have decided on the joint action plan, whereby “save democracy” marches will be taken out in all districts from October 2-8 and demonstrations will be held before the district magistrate’s office, where the youth and NGOs would also be invited.
“We will hold five big rallies during October/November, and the date and place would be decided soon. We will tell people how the Government is snatching the rights of the people to elect their Government for running the country,” he said.
TMC chief Mamata Banerjee asserted that the INDIA bloc is “very much united” and demanded immediate removal of CEC Kumar, alleging serious electoral wrongdoing and manipulation of the electoral process.
“If Gyanesh Kumar does not resign, we people will launch a massive movement from ‘mitti to aasmaan’ (from the ground to the sky). We will fight, we will win... we will protect democracy and the Constitution,” she said.
Kharge said that on November 1 a mega rally would be organised in the national capital to highlight the issue of ‘vote chori’. According to sources, the rallies will be held in Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bengaluru and one more city.
The Congress chief said Modi-Shah are making the Election Commission work like a “puppet”, alleging that “These people are only winning elections by stealing votes. When our people oppose this, they are harassed.”
Leaders of the Opposition in both houses will seek an appointment from the President and make a representation in the second week of October against the “vote chori Government”, he said.
“INDIA bloc meeting saw a very good discussion, and the main issue was ‘vote chori’. All parties are of the opinion that the democratic system of India has been attacked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar,” Rahul Gandhi said.
The BJP, however, claimed that the INDIA bloc is crumbling and its leaders have rejected Rahul Gandhi’s leadership after Akhilesh Yadav and other leaders skipped the alliance’s Wednesday meeting.
While the DMK and the AAP skipped the meeting, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav also did not attend on account of nominations for Rajya Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh.
The parties that attended the meeting were the Congress, Samajwadi Party, All India Trinamool Congress, NCP(SP), Shiv Sena (UBT), Rashtriya Janata Dal, CPI(M), CPI, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, CPI-ML, IUML, Kerala Congress (M), Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Kerala Congress (Jacob) and All India Forward Bloc. Independent Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal also attended the meeting.
