In a show of unity, ‘INDIA’ bloc leaders came together at ‘loktantra bachao’ (save democracy) rally in Delhi on Sunday and attacked NDA govt for being “dictatorial” and “misusing” ED and other central agencies to “rig” Lok Sabha polls by getting its opponents jailed and bank accounts of parties sealed.
At the Ramlila Maidan rally - almost all ‘INDIA’ parties attended it - held against the backdrop of Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest and amid tensions in some states over alliance seat-sharing, leaders demanded immediate release of the Delhi CM and Jharkhand ex-CM Hemant Soren, an SC-monitored SIT probe into BJP’s “extortion” through electoral bonds and a “level-playing field” for upcoming elections.
Rahul Gandhi of Congress accused PM Modi of trying to engage in electoral “match-fixing along with three-four billionaires to snatch Constitution from poor”. He said, “Who selected umpires (for polls)? Narendra Modi chose the umpires.”
Rahul said, “Before the match started, two players from our team were arrested and put inside. What kind of elections are these? Govts are toppled by using money power, leaders are threatened and arrested.” He highlighted his own party’s case saying, “Congress is the biggest opposition party and all its accounts have been frozen at a time the party has to run a campaign and send leaders in states amidst the Lok Sabha polls.”
“EC must stop the coercive action by I-T, ED and CBI against opposition political parties aimed at manipulating the elections. Coercive action to financially strangulate political parties in the opposition during the elections must stop immediately,” stated the 5-point demand charter read out by Congress’s Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Congress was represented by the entire Gandhi family (Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka) and party president Malikarjun Kharge and other senior leaders. Other attendees included NCP’s Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) Uddhav Thackeray, Trinamool Congress’s Derek O’Brien, Akhilesh Yadav (SP), Farooq Abdullah (J&K National Conference), Mehbooba Mufti (PDP), Tejaswi Yadav RJD, Jharkhand chief minister Champai Soren and Punjab CM Bhangwant Mann (AAP), among others. Left parties leaders Sitaram Yechury, D Raja, Dipankar Bhattacharya were also present. CMs of West Bengal and Tamil Nadu , Mamata Banerjee and M K Stalin, were represented by Derek O’Brien and Tiruchi Siva respectively.
