NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Congress leader KC Venugopal, PDP President Mehbooba Mufti, AAP leader Raghav Chadha, Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, J&K National Conference Vice-President Omar Abdullah and other Opposition leaders during the I.N.D.I.A meeting in Delhi, September 13, 2023.
Credit: PTI Photo
Pledging to support the I.N.D.I.A bloc to defeat the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, a platform of smaller parties, people’s movements and civil society outfits on Friday announced a campaign from October 2 during which around 1.25 lakh volunteers will be fanned out across the country over a period of time.
The platform ‘Jeetega India’, conceptualised by ‘Bharat Jodo Abhiyan’ and ‘Confederation of Indian Communists and Democratic Socialists’, will also take on the BJP’s troll armies through “truth armies” while insisting that their support for the I.N.D.I.A bloc is “unconditional” and they were not seeking seats from the Opposition grouping.
It said the platform will identify 125-150 seats where the I.N.D.I.A bloc has a chance of upstaging the BJP with a “little more push”. This will not include seats where the I.N.D.I.A parties or the BJP are winning easily.
The decisions were taken at a National Convention for Democracy, Secularism and Social Justice here, which was attended by around 500 delegates from 18 smaller non I.N.D.I.A Opposition parties and over 50 people’s movements and civil society organisations from 20 states.
A resolution adopted at the convention said they accepted the “challenge of defeating” the BJP and its “over and covert” allies in the upcoming five state elections and Lok Sabha polls.
“We resolve to mobilise at least 1.25 lakh active volunteers all over the country to work for this movement. Jeetega INDIA, Banega Bharat campaign shall begin on October 2 at Sevagram in Wardha and other locations as feasible. We call upon all the defenders of the republic to join this venture in the spirit of equal partnership,” it added.
While the delegates had a closed door strategy session in the first half of the day, leaders like Congress’ Digvijaya Singh, CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury, CPI’s D Raja, Samajwadi Party’s Javed Ali Khan and RLD’s Trilok Tyagi among others addressed the gathering in the later part of the day. The leaders emphasised that only a united fight would lead to BJP’s defeat.
Explaining the deliberations in the convention, activist Yogendra Yadav, one of the organisers, said they have resolved to ensure the I.N.D.I.A bloc’s victory in the elections. “We will recruit, train, deploy and monitor the volunteers. By December, we will have volunteers deployed,” he said.
CP John, leader of Communist Marxist Party (CMP), told reporters that the resolution has made it clear that this is the time to fight the forces which have demolished virtues of democracy in the country.
Addressing the delegates, Yechury said the objective of every patriot should be that if India is to be saved, then the BJP has to go. “India will win but it will win if all of us put our efforts in. The assault today is on the foundations of the nation. There have been countless assaults on these pillars. The 28 parties in INDIA have the objectives of saving India and ensuring a better tomorrow,” he said.
SP leader Khan said, “the BJP is a lot ahead of us in appropriating terms and words. They have almost monopolised nationalism and even patriotism. Our duty is to overcome this false monopoly and show them their place. If we unite against the BJP, we can be successful.”
Claiming that the Constitution, democracy and our future are under threat, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh alleged that the RSS does not believe in democracy. “The RSS has not moved from its central objectives in almost 100 years. The mask changes but not the core. The Congress is one party that has never compromised with the RSS,” he said.