The Opposition parties on Tuesday announced a “mission to restore democracy”, vowing to intensify their political fight against the Union government’s decision to de-notify Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site. The parties also agreed to wait for the Supreme Court’s response to their petition filed on Monday before organising another massive march in the heart of Delhi.
The Opposition leaders described Monday’s march to the Supreme Court as a significant achievement and decided to form an “INDIA Plus” group to bring together political parties, activists, students and other organisations. They also discussed a tentative plan to organise a mock Parliament, while Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi urged the leaders to remain prepared for “surprise movements”.
“We are all standing here together as one. 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,” Gandhi told the media after the meeting.
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“Democracy has been destroyed in this country. The election system has been destroyed. The Constitution has been torn up and thrown away. We are fighting together to restore democratic rule, genuine democratic rule in this country,” he said.
Gandhi said Jantar Mantar had been a place where people could express their democratic aspirations, but the government had now decided that it could no longer be used for that purpose.
“Well, we are going to challenge that idea. It is not going to be so simple for the government to decide that the Indian people will not fight for their voice. The people who have done this, they need to understand that the net is closing around them. It is not going to be so simple that you can destroy the Indian Constitution and get away with it,” he added.
Gandhi also thanked the people of Delhi and other parts of the country for supporting Monday’s march, saying the mobilisation reflected public sentiment rather than merely the efforts of political parties.
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“Yesterday you saw an expression, not of the political parties standing here, but an expression of the people of India. We were there, but what happened yesterday could not have happened without the expression of the average citizen of this country, non-political citizen of this country,” he said.
He added that the Opposition wanted to thank the people who had stood with them against the government’s decision.
“This is not about us, this is about the people of India, this is about the future of the people of India. And we, all of us together, because we love you and we respect you are going to fight to the end to restore the democratic process in this country. It is our commitment, the people who have done this, are going to be brought to justice,” Gandhi said.
Oppn to await SC response before next mega march
The meeting, which lasted more than two hours, saw several leaders criticise the government’s decision to remove Jantar Mantar from the list of designated protest sites.
The Union Home Ministry has notified Ramlila Ground, Burari Ground and CBD Ground in east Delhi as designated protest sites.
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Apart from Gandhi, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge attended the meeting. It was among the rare occasions in recent times when Gandhi hosted Opposition leaders for a tea meeting at his official residence at 5, Sunehri Bagh Road.
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leaders Tejashwi Yadav and Manoj Jha, and Samajwadi Party leaders Anand Bhadauria, Harender Malik and M Nadvi were also present.
Other attendees included Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Mahua Maji, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary MA Baby, Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary D Raja and party MP Sandosh Kumar, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation leader Dipankar Bhattacharya, and Forward Bloc leader G Devarajan.
Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) MP Supriya Sule, Kerala Congress leader Jose K Mani and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) leader Thol Thirumavalavan also participated in the meeting. All India Students’ Association (AISA) chief Neha Bora, Students’ Federation of India (SFI) leader Aishee Ghosh, and activists Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan were among those present.
According to three senior leaders who attended the meeting, the participants reviewed Monday’s march to the Supreme Court and expressed satisfaction with the scale of mobilisation.
“It has been decided that before taking out another massive march in the heart of Delhi, the INDIA bloc will wait for the Supreme Court’s view on our petition. The logic is that we have already gone to the court so we must wait for the SC’s orders,” a senior leader said.
However, the decision to await the court’s response will not prevent Opposition parties from continuing their protests at Jantar Mantar, the leaders indicated.
“Our decentralised programmes will continue to take place in Jantar Mantar. We do not agree with the government’s view that protests can’t be held at that place,” another leader said.
Mock Parliament, surprise protests discussed
According to functionaries who attended the meeting, the leaders also discussed a preliminary plan to organise a mock Parliament targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Gandhi also urged the leaders to remain alert for “surprise movements” that could be organised at short notice, including within 24 hours.
MA Baby criticised the government over the decision concerning Jantar Mantar, drawing a parallel with the Opposition’s allegations of electoral malpractice.
“After vote chori, the government has even done ‘chori of Jantar Mantar’,” Baby said.
“Gyanesh Kumar has joined the ruling party’s team... He steals votes, protest site and democracy,” he added.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut also criticised Gyanesh Kumar, comparing him to a mafia.
“We know how to fight with a mafia. For past 12 years, Modi and Shah had scared the country. Now they are afraid, this protests under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi will continue,” Raut said.
‘We the People versus the BJP’: AISA chief
AISA president Neha Bora said the opposition to the government’s decision should be seen as a collective fight to protect democratic rights and the Constitution.
“When we say ‘We the People versus the BJP’, we are talking about one fight. We are talking about one common enemy, one enemy of the people of this country, one enemy of Indian democracy, one enemy of the Constitution, and the name of that enemy is the BJP,” she said.
Bora argued that the government could not expect people to remain silent if their right to protest was restricted while they were demanding voting rights.
“If the BJP thinks it can attack the foundations of democracy, and when people take to the streets to protest and demand their voting rights, their right to protest can also be taken away and they will remain silent, then the BJP has something else on its head,” she said.
Accusing the BJP of compromising democratic principles and the values enshrined in the Constitution, Bora said ordinary citizens had played a central role in establishing and defending India’s democracy.
“But the common people of this country, who have fought and sacrificed their lives to make India a democracy and defend the Constitution, are not ready to settle for a stolen mandate or a compromised democracy...” she added.