The Congress leadership has met key national-level office-bearers as well as those from Delhi and neighbouring states to try and ensure that at least 50,000 people come to its “vote chori” rally at the Ramlila Maidan here on November 1.
Members of the Congress ecosystem dismissed the BJP’s charges that holding a rally on the anniversary of the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom would be insensitive, and also harm festive retail sales. They argued that the rally footfall would boost Diwali business.
On Friday, party general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal and fellow MP Priyanka Vadra had met leaders of the Uttar Pradesh and Haryana units, which are expected to bring the bulk of the crowds. Venugopal and the party’s Uttar Pradesh-in-charge, Rajendra Pal Gautam, met the heads of the Congress’s front organisations on Saturday.
In the evening, Venugopal and party treasurer Ajay Maken met Delhi unit leaders.
“The frontal organisations have been given targets of around 5,000 people each to bring to the rally,” a Congress office-bearer told The Telegraph.
“Our estimate is that more than 15,000 people came for the rally to the Supreme Court on October 12. Besides UP and Haryana, the (state Congress committees) of Delhi, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have been given quotas on how many people they need to bring. Other INDIA parties will also mobilise people.”
The INDIA bloc is also expected to hold a mock impeachment of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in public on October 30, where new facts on the working of the Election Commission may be highlighted.
The source added: “On the 12th, those who came to attend stayed in tents on 24 Akbar Road or at MPs’ homes in addition to the usual shelters like gurdwaras and dharamshalas.
“We avoid hotels as the police harass the hotel owners. This time, we additionally have the option of housing people in tents on Ramlila Maidan (12 acres). So, we think we can cross the 50,000 mark, which is itself enough to fill the ground.”
Congress activist Y.B. Srivatsa posted on X a video of BJP Lok Sabha member Ravi Shankar Prasad’s allegation that the November 1 rally would hurt Sikh sentiments and Diwali sales, and added a response.
“Full Darr Ka Mahol (atmosphere of fear) at BJP HQ who know that Lakhs will walk with Rahul. Ravi Shankar Prasad is blabbering the most silly of retorts,” he posted.
“Rally and March will be over in a few hours but footfalls in market areas will be unprecedented as people from across India are coming to Delhi.
“BJP is of-course petrified as Barakhamba (road) march (on October 12) was just the trailer. Ramlila will be much much bigger. Traders and shop-keepers, hotel owners, restaurants etc will be happy as such a mammoth crowd from outside Delhi are coming.”
A Congress leader told this newspaper: “The tide has turned in our favour. Earlier, the BJP set the agenda and we were merely responding. Now it’s (the other way round)…. People are fed up with the BJP’s same old attacks on the Nehru-Gandhi family.”
Congress leaders slammed former Aam Aadmi Party leader Brijesh Goyal — who heads the Chamber of Trade and Industry, once associated with the AAP — for asking Rahul Gandhi to postpone the rally to after November 10 to avoid disrupting transport and trade.
Gurdeep Singh Sappal, the Congress president’s administrative-in-charge, said on X: “This ‘chamber’ probably isn’t even registered…. Yes, its head, Brijesh Goyal, was indeed the Aam Aadmi Party’s Lok Sabha candidate in 2019.
“Now, the valid question is: why was this baseless organization linked to AAP used against the INDIA alliance’s rally? And why is the BJP promoting it so aggressively?”
Delhi AAP chief Saurabh Bharadwaj responded: “We want to make it clear that this person is not in @AamAadmiParty. After BJP won elections in Delhi, he switched sides and has been openly supporting BJP.”