Hours after its key campaigner Rahul Gandhi wrapped up his 6,700-kilometer Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra that took him to 16 States and 110 districts across the country, the INDIA Bloc on Sunday flexed its muscle at a massive public rally at the Shivaji Park with a clarion call to the people to “protect” the Constitution, “defeat” the divisive forces and the centralised BJP leadership, “whose strength lies in the EVM machines” in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Coming as it did a day after the Election Commission of India announced a seven-phase schedule for the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress-led Opposition could not have chosen more appropriate occasion to sound poll bugle against the mighty ruling Narendra Modi-led BJP — which has made a head-start in its mission to capture power for the third consecutive term by announcing as many as 267 candidates for the polls.
Undeterred by the desertions by its senior leaders like Nitish Kumar who has teamed up with the BJP and Mamta Banerjee who chose to go it alone and the absence of leaders from its constituent parties, leaders of the Opposition INDIA Bloc put up a united face at the rally.
Incidentally, Rahul Gandhi addressed a public rally for the first time at the Shivaji Park where its ally Shiv Sena — now led by Uddhav Thackeray — was founded by more than 67 years.
This is for the first time that the Shiv Sena (UBT) is contesting the elections in alliance with the Congress.
Apart from Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi of the Congress, the other prominent leaders who showed up at the INDIA Bloc rally were Uddhav Thackeray, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin of the DMK, NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, RJD leader and former Bihar deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, CPI general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren, Aam Aadmi Party leader Saurabh Bharadwaj.
Fresh from his 63-day-long Manipur-Mumbai Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra which is the second yatra of its kind after his 4,000-km yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, Rahul was the star attraction at the INDIA Bloc rally.
Though a few of its allies like the Samajwadi Party have already announced its candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, the Opposition INDIA Bloc has not yet inked the seat-sharing arrangement for the Lok Sabha polls. Congress leader Sachin Pilot went to town on Saturday, saying the INDIA Bloc partners had almost finalised their seat tie-up for the Lok Sabha polls.
While the BJP-led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi - has gone on a campaign blitzkrieg in its bid to reach out to people across the country, it remains as to what impact that Rahul’s two yatras will have on the poll prospects of INDIA Bloc in general and Congress in particular.
Rahul, whose party’s core message is “Saho Mat, Daro Mat” (tolerate no more, fear no more), unveiled 25 guarantees to various sections under Yuva Nyay, Nari Nyay, Kisan Nyay, Shramik Nyay & Hissedari Nyay,
By concluding his rally at Chaityabhoomi, the memorial of late BR Ambedkar on Saturday evening, Rahul has sent out the voters from the backward sections of society.
Accompanied by his sister Priyanka, Rahul -- who had reached Mumbai on Saturday night, began his day by walking from a padyatra from August Kranti ground to Mani Bhavan in south Mumbai.
Rahul, Priyanka, along with Mahatma Gandhi’s great grandson Tushar Gandhi, held an interactive meeting with the representatives of NGOs and civil society on Sunday.
Speaking on the occasion, Rahul reiterated the ongoing fight in the country was between two ideologies as one essentially believed in centralisation of power and the other was like ‘Shiv Ki Baraat’ taking all together.
“In Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, it was not just Rahul who walked, but the crores (of Indians) who walked with me. This fight is not limited to Rahul and Modi or Congress and BJP. The fight is between two thoughts. One says the country will be run from the top and all will follow the orders. The second says, run the country in a decentralised manner. In religious terms, we can call it ‘Shiv Ki Baarat’,” Rahul said.
Exhorting the people not to be scared, he said the battle was between ideologies. “Some say that BJP will change the Constitution and all. Let me tell you that they have no courage to change the Constitution. In this battle, the truth and Hindustan stand with us,’’ he said.
“Injustice against poor, Dalit, women, is a root cause of growing hatred in the country as barely 2 to 3 per cent get justice for whom the government and all the institutions work,” he said.
“When we were in the Government and raised the issue of farm loan waiver, we were told that farmers will become lazy. When we brought MGNREGA, we were told that the poor will be spoiled. On the other hand when a Rs 16 lakh crore bank loan of 20-25 people gets waived off, then doesn’t it spoil them?” the Congress leader said.
During his speeches in Mumbai, Rahul attacked the BJP on various issues, including electoral bonds, Dharavi redevelopment and RSS.
Speaking at a rally, Rahul said, “Dharavi is the real Make in India, it is a manufacturing hub….desh dalal nahi, Dharavi ke log banate hai .. the nation is shaped by the people of Dharavi, not by brokers….Dharavi is your own land but the Government is trying to acquire it through dalals….police force is being used to throw out the residents for the Dharavi redevelopment project,” Rahul said.
“One of the reasons for my ending my Yatra at Dharavi is that it has produced skills. Given the talent that Dharavi has produced, Made in Mumbai can replace Made in China,” he said.
Farooq Abdullah (former CM, J&K), Mehbooba Mufti (former CM, J&K), Dipankar Bhattacharya (General Secretary CPI-ML), Prithviraj Chavan (MLA, former CM Maharashtra), Aditya Thackeray ( MLA Shivsena UBT Maharashtra), Sanjay Raut ( MP Shivsena UBT), Milind Narwekar (secretary Shivsena UBT), Arwind Sawant (MP Shivsena UBT), Nana Patole (Maharashtra state president), Prakash Ambedkar (VBA President), Sachin Pilot ( MLA Congress Rajasthan), Priyanka Chaturvedi ( Spokesperson Shiv UBT), Jayant Patil (NCP SP), Ajay Maken ( Congress), Sushil Kumar Shinde (Congress), Raj Babbar ( Congress), Tushar Gandhi, )Vijay Wadditawar (MLA Congress), Anil Deshmukh (former Minister NCP -Sharad Pawar), Vishal Bhardwaj and Rekha Bhardwaj (singer, Director, Producer Bollywood) and others were also present at the rally.
