New Delhi: The national capital’s roads were clogged at several points Sunday as people headed towards the Ramlila Maidan for the INDIA bloc rally. The crowds were not just confined to the venue. Supporters of different parties could be seen gathering and spilling out at different points along the approach roads.
Leaders and workers from 21 opposition parties under the INDIA bloc assembled for the rally, which was the coalition’s latest intervention in their protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
In a rare sight at Ramlila Maidan, there were several flags of different parties—Mamata All India Trinamool Congress, Left outfits, the Samajwadi Party (SP), and the Congress, among others—placed together. Volunteers thronged the roads shouting “vote chor gaddi chhod (vote thief, leave the seat of power)”, some carried a copy of the Constitution, while others continued to demand the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar in different ways.
INDIA bloc leaders travelled to the venue in an open jeep brought from Ranthambore. Sources told ThePrint that all parties maintained a strict note of their leaders and supporters coming in from different states. Several leaders with their supporters came in Saturday night, while many continued to arrive till Sunday. Many civil society groups were a part of the protest as well, excluding the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which did not come to the rally but released a press note expressing their support.
‘Vote thieves must go’
Addressing the event, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, “Today, in the country, Narendra Modi is deciding who will cast the vote! The situation is such that the public is not choosing him; he has become the Prime Minister by selecting the voters himself.”
“Whether it’s the central government or the governments of Maharashtra, Bihar, UP—all of these have been formed through theft. We must remove these thieves from power. We will save democracy only when we oust Modi,” he added.
Kharge also targeted the CEC, saying, “We will not sit quietly until Narendra Modi’s vote-stealing disciple named Gyanesh Kumar is gone!”
Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, spoke about the change needed in India, and reaffirmed his commitment to the removal of Gyanesh Kumar.
“We want a Hindustan where farmers’ dreams are fulfilled; youth get employment. We don’t want a country of just two-three people. We don’t want a Hindustan where Adani has control over all institutions,” he added. “We will not let this happen, and its first step will begin with removing Gyanesh Kumar.”
“The voice of Hindustan is saying that we will not let the country’s democracy and Constitution be destroyed. The Modi government is not bigger than the Constitution. The Constitution is the greatest,” he added
Gandhi also made an appeal for communal harmony, accusing the BJP, the RSS and the government of spreading hatred.
“Modi-Shah-RSS has spread hatred in the country, which is harming the soul of the nation. Today, the whole of Hindustan is saying—we don’t want hatred, we want love and brotherhood, we want a country of mohabbat. We will definitely make this happen,” he said.
Invoking Mahatma Gandhi, he said, “Gandhi ji had said that the voice of the last person standing in line is the most important for us, and that is exactly what we are saying too. We must protect that voice—whether it is Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian… Dalit-Adivasi, woman or disabled. We must protect everyone and eradicate hatred.”
Mamata All India Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee claimed the Bengal election was snatched from her under the guise of the SIR. “Gyanesh Kumar has turned the meaning of SIR into Special Intensive Relief for the BJP,” she said.
“These people have looted the country’s democracy and Constitution through ‘vote theft’, and attacked it on top of that. The BJP has stolen youth’s jobs, stolen women’s honor, stolen donations—we must remove them from power,” Banerjee said.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav referred to the party’s complaint to the Election Commission and said it had not received a response.
“We are constantly seeing that the BJP is stealing votes. They know they can’t win without stealing votes,” he said. “We still remember Bengal’s election and the pictures from there, where the election was stolen through the might of SIR and force. The Samajwadi Party submitted an affidavit providing evidence of vote theft, but the Election Commission gave no response,” Yadav added.
“Here, the resounding chants of Inquilab Zindabad are signals of change. This time, the people of the country are ready to settle the score with vote snatchers and empty promises,” he said.
Bihar Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) took a shot at the BJP and RSS’s claims about patriotism.
“Those BJP-RSS folks who played no role in the freedom struggle are now handing out certificates of patriotism to us,” he said. “Not just that… today, the same people are deciding who will vote in the country and who won’t. This fight is between the country’s voters and the cheats. That’s why we must come together to save the country’s democracy. We have to teach such people a lesson,” he added.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti said the BJP was seeking to change the Constitution and take away people’s voting rights.
“The people of the BJP want to change the Constitution that gave many rights to the people, and now they are hell-bent on snatching away the right to vote,” she said.
“All of us must unite against this injustice and save the idea of India from being destroyed. So that we all can live with our heads held high and say, Hindustan is the best in the whole world,” Mufti added.
‘Emperor of lies’
Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said the SIR exercise was being used to take away voting rights.
“SIR is a tool of the Modi government to snatch away the right to vote from the common people. This has become clear to everyone,” he said. “In such a situation, the time has now come to raise high the right to vote and oust the vote thieves from power.”
CPI(Marxist) general secretary M.A. Baby called Modi the “emperor of lies”, alleging that he had failed women and farmers.
“His fascism will not prevail in this country,” Baby said, adding, “To end vote theft, to protect democracy and the Constitution, we must unite and fight together.”
All India Students Association (AISA) national president Neha Bora also addressed the rally, with members of the Students’ Federation of India—AISA and SFI are longtime campus politics rivals—cheering as she spoke.
“No matter how many scripts of conspiracies you write, the public will thwart every one of your anti-national intentions,” Bora said.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
Also Read: Congress issues 6-point rebuttal to ECI’s SIR affidavit in Supreme Court