New Delhi: A host of opposition leaders on Sunday made the case for opponents of the BJP to unite, with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar reiterating his belief that ‘one front’ that includes the Congress and Left parties must take on the saffron party.
Several leaders participated in a mega rally organised by the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) in Haryana’s Fatehabad to mark former deputy prime minister Devi Lal’s birth anniversary.
Addressing the rally, Nitish said that a “main front of opposition” will ensure that the BJP loses badly in the 2024 general elections.
“If all non-BJP parties unite, then they can get rid of those who are working to destroy the country,” he said. He accused the BJP of trying to create “Hindu-Muslim disturbances” in society to benefit politically.
There is no real Hindu-Muslim conflict in society, he said, adding that some mischief-makers are there everywhere. A large number of Muslims chose to remain in India after the Partition in 1947, he added.
Kumar suggested that an opposition front cannot be envisaged without the Congress and the Left parties, and urged leaders on the dais, including some with a strong anti-Congress history, to work for larger unity.
INLD leader Om Prakash Chautala, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)’s Sukhbir Singh Badal, both with a long history of fighting the Congress, were on the stage with other senior leaders such as the Nationalist Congress Party’s Sharad Pawar, CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury and Arvind Sawant of the Shiv Sena.
However, no one from the Congress attended the rally.
Kumar asserted that the need of the hour is a “main front” of all opposition parties and not any third front, a reference to non-BJP and non-Congress parties. “Then such a front will win handsomely,” he said.
While leaving the rally venue, Kumar told reporters he was not a contender for the prime minister’s post.
“No real work is happening under the BJP government at the Centre,” he alleged, accusing it of imposing its control over different institutions, including the media, to peddle a “one-sided” narrative.
People attend a rally organised by Indian National Lok Dal on the occasion of the 109th birth anniversary of former deputy PM Devi Lal, in Fatehabad, September 25, 2022. Photo: PTI/Atul Yadav
‘Everyone must work towards ensuring change in 2024’: Pawar
NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, speaking at the rally, said the time has come for everyone to work towards ensuring a change of the government at the Centre in 2024.
“Farmers staged protests on the borders of the national capital, but the Union government did not heed to their demands for a very long time,” Pawar said.
Pawar said farmers and youths dying by suicide is not a solution, but the “real solution” is to bring about a change and everyone must strive for a change of the government at the Centre in 2024.
He said the Union government had promised to withdraw cases filed against farmer leaders, but it has not fulfilled it as yet.
Time to come together to form new alliance: Badal at INLD rally
SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Sunday joined the call for like-minded parties to form a united front under the flag of farmers and labourers and work for their welfare.
Talking about National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Badal said the alliance was formed when the BJP was relatively a weaker force.
“The real NDA is sitting here, it was founded by Shiv Sena, Akali Dal and JD(U). We stood by the BJP when it was a relatively smaller party. But now it is time to forge an alliance for farmers and labourers,” Badal said.
Badal attacked the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and said such parties destroy the entire state machinery when they come to power.
JD(U), SAD and the Shiv Sena left NDA to save constitution: Tejashwi
RJD leader and Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday said the JD(U), SAD and the Shiv Sena left the BJP-led NDA to save the Constitution and democracy.
He also accused the BJP of making false claims and promises and dubbed the party as “Badka Jhuta Party” (party of big lies).
He said home minister Amit Shah spoke of an airport in Purnea in Bihar at his recent public meeting there even though there is no airport in the city.
With Nitish Kumar, Sukhbir Singh Badal and Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant on stage, he noted that they were all members of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
They have left the ruling alliance to save the constitution and democracy, he claimed. “Where is the NDA now?” he asked.
“While the Bihar government has begun the exercise to give jobs to people, the BJP government at the Centre has been unable to fulfil its promise of giving jobs,” he alleged.
Yadav said the BJP earlier used to sing ‘mehngayi daayan maar gayi‘ (price rise is killing everyone), but now mehngai has become its bhoujayi (sister-in-law).
(With PTI inputs)