Mamata Banerjee’s United India Rally in Kolkata: key points raised by Opposition leaders today

Over 20 opposition political parties representing almost all major states in India came together in a rare show of unity at Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Ground today against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led government at the Centre.

Host Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, said that the BJP government’s expiry date was now over, and the opposition parties would meet here again to celebrate its ousting in a few months from now. She called today’s rally, “the beginning of the end.”

The key points raised at the meeting were:

It’s not just about Prime Minister

Former Union minister in the BJP-led Atal Bihari Vajpayee government Jaswant Sinha said that the unity of the opposition parties does not mean only projecting a Prime Ministerial candidate. Neither was it about uniting against one person. “I know the ruling party will say that so many of them have come together to remove one person. But it is not the question of one person. It is about a certain way of thinking, the policies,” he said. “They want to make Modi the issue. But this election, let the issues be the issue.”

Arun Shourie, also a minister in the Vajpayee government said he was discussing with National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah the need for leaders to approach the opposition unity with a sense of “sacrifice”, not “calculation”.

Banerjee too said that it should not be difficult to choose a Prime Ministerial candidate after the election, because after all, the main task at hand now was to defeat the BJP. Pointing to the dais, she said that there were so many leaders and it should not be difficult to choose one Prime Minister from among them.

Need to convince the people that it will be a stable government

Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda today said that it is important for the leaders to instil a sense of confidence among the people that there will be a stable government that will rule the country for five years. He appreciated Mamata Banerjee’s efforts of bringing together the opposition parties, and said there must be no suspicion or doubt among the electorate that this will be a stable and united opposition. Deve Gowda also said that there was very little time at hand considering the elections are just around the corner, and specific plans needed to be chalked out for fighting the elections.

Significance of Congress joining in

At a time when there are efforts and attempts to create non-BJP non-Congress unity in certain quarters, Congress joining today’s rally was significant enough. Congress leader Sonia Gandhi today sent a message for the United India Rally, which was read out by senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge. In her message, she said that the 2019 elections “won’t be an ordinary one”. “It will be an election to restore faith in democracy… The rally is an important step to galvanise that”. Earlier, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had written to Banerjee wishing the rally great success.

The Congress’ presence is significant especially because regional parties like Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) that have gone ahead and formed alliances without keeping the Congress, were present on the dais. Significantly too, the Left parties did not have a representative. But then, as Arun Shourie said, it was important to form the alliance against the BJP nationally in a manner that it should not matter that the parties allying at the national level are rivals in a particular state.

Premonition about changing the Constitution

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo have the intention of changing the Constitution and discontinue election if they return to power. He equated them with Adolf Hitler.

Most of the opposition leaders raised the issue of the BJP government’s and the leaders’ dictatorial policies, and alleged that institutions such as banks, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and other respected organisations had been destroyed, and had lost their independence and credibility.

Leaders demand replacing EVMs with ballot papers

National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah called the EVM a “chor (thief) machine”. “Nowhere in the world are EVMs used,” he said. Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu said, “EVM is a fraud. I want to say this that paper ballots should be used”. The leaders insisted that the matter be taken up with the Election Commission of India (EC), an issue that the Opposition parties have been demanding for years.

More such unity meetings in the days ahead

There will be more of such unity meetings in the days ahead – one in Amaravati and another one in Delhi have been planned for now. And Mamata Banerjee concluded by saying all the leaders would come together again in Kolkata to celebrate victory in the Lok Sabha polls.