INDIA leaders slam CMs’ arrests at joint Delhi rally
Senior leaders of the INDIA bloc demand release of arrested politicians in a show of unity ahead of elections, accusing government of stifling opposition.
In a show of strength and unity weeks before the general elections, senior leaders of the INDIA bloc on Sunday converged on Ramlila Maidan, demanding the release of arrested Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his former Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren, even as they alleged that the country’s Opposition was being strangled and stripped of a level-playing field ahead of the polls.
The “Loktantra Bachao Rally” included the heads of more than 10 parties, two chief ministers and five former chief ministers, with roughly 10,000 people in attendance on a hot afternoon, in what was the largest public meeting of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) in terms of the number of outfits that participated. It was also the first time the Trinamool Congress attended an INDIA rally.
Stressing that the country’s democratic framework was in danger, the bloc listed out five demands, which senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi read out.
“First, the Election Commission of India (ECI) should ensure a level playing field for all parties... ECI should also stop forced enquiries by agencies like ED and CBI who use bungling of election funds as an excuse to raid opposition leaders. We also demand the immediate release of Hemant Soren and Arvind Kejriwal. Fourth, we demand that forceful financial strangulation of opposition parties should be stopped. And finally, an SIT should be established under the Supreme Court to look into BJP’s use of election funds, extortion and other charges,” Gandhi said during the rally, which was spearheaded by Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
The rally was a rare moment of pan-party unity for an alliance that has often failed to get on the same page. Kejriwal’s arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21 has appeared to galvanise the bloc, with parties setting aside disparate views to condemn a detention that they have alleged is politically motivated and one that rests on “cooked-up charges”.
It also presented Kejriwal’s wife, Sunita Kejriwal, the opportunity to make her first-ever public address.
Delhi minister Gopal Rai got the rally off the ground at 11.30am to a packed Ramlila Maidan. Two seats left vacant as a symbolic protest against Soren and Kejriwal’s arrests punctuated an otherwise packed stage.
In attendance were, among others, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Sonia Gandhi, senior leader Rahul Gandhi, Shiv Sena (UBT) supremo Uddhav Thackeray, AAP leader and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) chief Sharad Pawar, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, J&K Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti, Left leaders Sitaram Yechury, D Raja, and Dipankar Bhattacharya, and the Trinamool Congress’s Derek O’Brien.
Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 by ED, hours after the Delhi high court denied his request for interim protection from arrest — a stunning turn of events that left the Capital’s politics in turmoil and pushed to new heights the ongoing conflict between the Union government and the AAP. The party has insisted that Kejriwal will continue as CM and he has issued two orders from jail, sparking condemnation from the BJP.
ED arrested Hemant Soren on January 31 on money laundering allegations minutes after he resigned as chief minister of Jharkhand on Wednesday.
India will vote in the seven-phase general elections beginning April 19 and votes will be counted on June 4.
Thackeray spoke first at Ramlila Maidan and said he was there to support his sisters who are braving all odds to free their husbands.
“This is not a political rally. My two sisters are fighting with courage. Kalpana Soren and Sunita Kejriwal are not alone. Their brother is here for them, supporting their battle. The BJP claims ‘abki baar, 400 paar’. I say ‘abki baar, BJP tadipaar (banish)’. Let us all follow this slogan,” said Thackeray.
West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee did not attend the event, which clashed with the start of her party’s election campaign in the eastern state, but senior party leader O’Brien during his address underscored that they remain a committed member of the Opposition umbrella.
“Trinamool Congress was, is and will always be a part of INDIA. This is a fight between the BJP and democracy. Modi’s guarantee has zero warranty,” said O’Brien.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi leaned on the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) in a speech peppered with cricket analogies. He accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of “match fixing”
“IPL matches are going on and all of you would have heard of match-fixing in cricket. In Lok Sabha elections, the same is being done by Narendra Modi ji. He is trying to fix the elections with false raids and arrests, pressure to buy ‘players’, freezing the accounts of other teams and arresting two of the 11 star players of our team,” said Gandhi.
“This match fixing is not being done just by Narendra Modi. He is being supported by the three or four largest billionaires of this country. With this, they will not even cross 180 seats,” he said.
Hemant Soren’s wife Kalpana Soren spoke of the injustice to the tribal community, Sunita Kejriwal read out a letter he penned in jail, in which he made six guarantees the INDIA alliance would fulfill if it swings a majority in the elections.
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