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Apr

Ramlila Maiden Rally Brings Opposition Closer 

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Today’s Edition

New Delhi, 2 April 2024

 

 

The mega rally of the Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc held at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi on March 31 has generated a common agenda for all Opposition parties during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and laid down the pitch for the fight to save the Constitution, which is under a threat from the communal, autocratic, undemocratic and arrogant Bharatiya Janata Party regime.

Under the banner of “Loktantra Bachao” (save democracy), the leaders of the INDIA bloc stood united at the rally, while focusing on the crucial issues of job crisis, price rise, minimum support prices for agricultural produce, increasing communalism and the misuse of Central agencies such as CBI, ED and Income Tax Department to target the Opposition leaders.

All the leaders expressed solidarity with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who were arrested in separate cases by the ED. In speech after speech, the Opposition leaders lamented the lack of a level playing field for them in the election and cited coercive action by the Central agencies against them and income tax notices financially crippling them.

Article at a Glance

The Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc held a mega rally at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi on March 31, aiming to save the Constitution from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime.

Under the banner of "Loktantra Bachao" (save democracy), leaders of the INDIA bloc united to focus on crucial issues like job crisis, price rise, agricultural produce, communalism, and misuse of Central agencies against Opposition leaders.

 The rally saw solidarity with Arvind Kejriwal and Hemant Soren, who were arrested by the ED, and aimed to ensure a level playing field in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. With thousands of supporters in attendance, the message was clear: INDIA bloc supporters and leaders must unite to defeat the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.

This was in effect the first public meeting of the 10-month-old INDIA bloc, which has been facing issues in seat-sharing arrangements in various states. The presence of leaders of different persuasions, united under the anti-BJP umbrella, showed their commitment to fighting, winning, and saving democracy in India. “If the BJP wins these fixed elections and changes the Constitution, the country will be on fire,” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi declared.

Gandhi asserted that without EVM manipulation and other intimidatory tactics, the BJP and its allies cannot cross 180 seats in the upcoming general elections. “When pressure is put on umpires and captains, players are bought off and the match is won in cricket, it is called match-fixing. We have the Lok Sabha election before us. Who selected the umpires? Before the match started, two players were arrested. Narendra Modi is trying to do match-fixing in the election,” Gandhi said.

Gandhi sought to remind the crowd of remarks from the BJP MP Anant Kumar Hegde that the BJP will change the Constitution when it gets over 400 seats. Sounding an alarm, Gandhi said: “If the Constitution is finished, this country will be finished and the country will be torn apart into different states.”

Wives of both incarcerated leaders – Kejriwal and Soren – also addressed the gathering. Sunita Kejriwal read out a message from the jailed Chief Minister, in which he promised five guarantees to the voters. She said Modi had put her husband in custody and wanted him to resign, but he was a true patriot and honest person.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge likened the BJP and RSS to poison. “You have to decide if you want democracy or dictatorship. Those who support dictatorship need to be kicked out of the country. The BJP and RSS are like poison. You will die even if you taste poison,” Kharge said. The Congress president also asked the party’s allies to overcome their differences. He spoke about the Left and Congress’s electoral contest in Kerala but their unity at the national level.

The rally also served as an opportunity for many INDIA bloc participants to recommit themselves to the anti-BJP alliance. Trinamool Congress which had refused to concede any seat to Congress in West Bengal asserted that “it was, is, and will be part of the INDIA bloc.” The crowd roared in response to this remark made by TMC’s Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav regaled the crowd with a parody of “Tum Toh Dhokhebaaz Ho”, a song from one of the films of actor Govinda, who has recently joined the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde), which is part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. The song mocked the Modi government’s failed promises, while Yadav said that the BJP’s campaign tagline “Abki baar, 400 paar” (this time, over 400 seats) indicates that they have already fixed the EVMs.

Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav commented that the U.P. knows how to warmly welcome people and also how to bid them farewell. Taking a dig at the BJP, he asked why the ruling party which is confident of winning 400 seats is scared of Kejriwal and other Opposition leaders.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury in his speech underlining the importance of the venue said: “It was here, 47 years back, that a historic meeting was held where Jai Prakash Narayan raised the slogan ‘Freedom or servitude’ and in the election that year, ‘freedom’ won. Today again we are demanding freedom for our secular democratic nation from certain forces.”

After the rally, on behalf of the INDIA bloc, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra read out the five-part demands. The Opposition parties demanded that the Election Commission ensure a level playing field for them and stop coercive action against them by Central agencies. They also demanded the immediate release of Kerjriwal and Soren.

The Opposition parties asked the government to stop financially strangulating them. They also urged the Supreme Court to set up a Special Investigation Team to probe the allegations of quid pro quo, extortion and money laundering by the BJP using the electoral bonds.

Besides Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI general secretary D. Raja, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah, and Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren attended the rally.

As thousands of people turned up at Ramlila Maidan to attend the rally, the speeches of various top leaders elicited a range of emotions among the crowd, often resulting in jeering, sloganeering and the occasional laughs. The crowd breached the 20,000 capacity of the ground. Beating the heat, several people reached the venue on foot, in buses, trucks, and autos from different backgrounds in support of the Opposition bloc’s rally to safeguard democracy.

While the speakers emphasized conducting a free and fair election, the loudest reactions were palpable whenever the Opposition leaders jabbed at the ruling BJP, such as the Aam Aadmi Party leader and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann‘s comment on whether Modi can even make ‘chai’ or has been lying to us about this as well.

The rally started with protest songs and stretched on as leaders on the dais called for the defeat of the BJP. Crowds, dominated mostly by AAP and Congress supporters, were dressed in the paraphernalia of different parties. A sea of yellow, the AAP’s adopted colour, was countered equally by the Congress’s flags. A Congress supporter dressed in a kurta with Rahul Gandhi’s face on it, hoisted the party flag, while an AAP supporter painted himself in the tricolour with the slogan ‘Main Bhi Kejriwal’.

The message at Ramlila Maidan was loud and clear: INDIA bloc supporters and leaders need to bury their differences to oust from power the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in the Lok Sabha elections. As the Opposition leaders put up a united show, their supporters raised slogans in unison, setting aside their ideological differences.(Words 1330)

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