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The people’s newsroom

PoliticsOpposition

Over tea at Rahul Gandhi's home, INDIA bloc vows to keep up fight against CEC

Opposition parties, student groups and activists met a day after the Supreme Court march. They gave no dates but said the campaign would go on until Gyanesh Kumar quits.

From the editorial desk · New DelhiPublished
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar (file photos)
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar (file photos)Photos: Original: Indian National Congress. / Wikimedia Commons; Sharma Dhawan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 and CC0

Key points

  1. Rahul Gandhi hosted INDIA bloc parties and civil society groups at his official residence on Tuesday.
  2. He said there were no parallel protests, only one campaign to restore democracy.
  3. Leaders also condemned the delisting of Jantar Mantar as a protest site.

Leaders of the INDIA bloc met over tea at Rahul Gandhi’s official residence in New Delhi on Tuesday and agreed to keep up their campaign for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, a day after their march towards the Supreme Court was stopped by police.

Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, invited the alliance’s parties along with student groups and civil society organisations.

“There are no parallel protests, only one single protest with one mission: To restore democracy in India,” he said. He said the opposition had “the utmost respect” for the Chief Justice and the Supreme Court, but added: “No matter what happens, political resistance will continue, people’s resistance will continue, and it will triumph.”

He declined to spell out the next steps, saying “that would spoil the surprise”.

Jantar Mantar

Several speakers took aim at the Delhi Police’s decision to remove Jantar Mantar from its list of protest sites. “The government can’t have it so easy that they can take away Jantar Mantar from us, we will fight for it,” Gandhi said.

“We strongly condemn this decision,” said CPI general secretary D Raja. Samajwadi Party MP Priya Saroj said changing the protest site was not going to silence the opposition.

Who said what

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav accused Kumar of acting “at the behest of Modi-Shah”. Trinamool MP Sagarika Ghose said the parties would not stop until Kumar was removed and criminal proceedings were started. Lawyer Prashant Bhushan said farmer and worker organisations would join the campaign, and NCP working president Supriya Sule said: “We are one in this fight.”

Congress leader Amarinder Singh Raja Warring compared the fight to the freedom struggle. “We fought and drove out the British. Now, we will fight to oust Gyanesh Kumar,” he said.

Samajwadi Party MP Awadhesh Prasad said: “Our leaders will reveal the strategy later; nothing is being disclosed right now.”