The INDIA Alliance meeting held at senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s residence on Monday evening vowed to continue its political resistance against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and CEC Gyanesh Kumar. However, reports claim that it has been decided to pause united street protests at least till the end of the week due to Navratri-Durga Puja festivities.
There won’t be regular united Delhi street marches till at least the third week of October due to Navratri-Durga puja festivities and later during Diwali-Dussehra-Chhath season in November, The Economic Times quoted unnamed sources.
However, the Congress will hold its scheduled Delhi rally on November 1. It has also been decided to let leaders and MPs of parties facing state elections work on their home turf rather than staying put in Delhi.
There were suggestions, including shifting the bloc's protest later to states and places, including Varanasi, which is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency. However, many insisted on Delhi being the perfect place to protest due to the optics and impact.
After the meeting, Rahul Gandhi told reporters that the opposition were united. “As I said yesterday, there are no parallel protests; there is one singular protest, and the protest has one mission -- 'restoration of democracy in India'," Rahul Gandhi said, flanked by party chief Kharge and other INDIA bloc leaders.
INDIA Plus?
Though there are no official statements, there is speculation that the opposition considers expanding the alliance and making it 'India Plus ', including social workers, student organisations and other social organisations. Rumours are that Abhijeet Dipke, founder of Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), have been approached.
However, CJP convener Abhijit Dipke on Wednesday categorically denied any involvement with any political party, stating CJP’s campaign against Gyanesh Kumar and the INDIA bloc protests serve the same purpose, but the CJP will continue to operate as an independent pressure group.
"All the protests are for the same purpose. We are all fighting against Gyanesh Kumar's alleged rigging of the elections and the way he helped Narendra Modi remain in power," Deepak said. " The Cockroach Janata Party is an independent pressure group and will always remain so. This does not mean that we are against the INDIA Bloc. The objectives of the INDIA Bloc and our movement are the same," he said.
Deepak also denied reports of CJP being registered as a political party.
