Democracy is in danger, warns Opposition
Wives of both incarcerated leaders — Mr. Kejriwal and Mr. Soren — spoke at the event. Sunita Kejriwal read out a message from the jailed Chief Minister, in which he promised five guarantees — 24x7 power supply, free electricity for the poor, government schools and mohalla clinics in every village, a multispecialty government hospital in every district, and minimum support price for all crops in adherence to the Swaminathan report.
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,” Mr. Kharge said. The Congress president also spoke to his allies, asking them to overcome their differences.
The rally also served as an opportunity for many INDIA bloc participants to recommit themselves to the antiBJP 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”.
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav regaled the crowd with a parody of “Tum Toh Dhokhebaaz Ho”, a song from actor Govinda’s blockbuster Hindi film Saajan Chale Sasural. The actor had recently joined the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde), which is part of the BJPled NDA. The song mocked the Modi government’s alleged failed promises. He 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 Uttar Pradesh knows how to warmly welcome people and 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 Mr. Kejriwal and other Opposition leaders.
But amidst the uniformity in the message, there were also underlying contradictions. CPI(M) 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,” he said.
The irony that the venue in 2011 hosted the Anna Hazare movement — that led to the rise of AAP and the fall of the Congress governments in the Centre and Delhi — was also not lost on the assembled crowd.
At the conclusion of the rally, on behalf of the INDIA bloc, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra read out the fivepart 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 Mr. Soren and Mr. Kejriwal. The parties 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.