All INDIA bloc parties to hold rally in Delhi today
Key issues of inflation, unemployment, inequality, and opposition leader arrests to be raised at the opposition INDIA bloc's rally at Ramlila Maidan on Sunday.
Inflation, unemployment, inequality, and the arrests of opposition leaders will be key issues at the opposition INDIA bloc’s rally on Sunday at Ramlila Maidan, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on Saturday, as preparations — both by the parties and traffic police — for the event were stepped up.
The event will be the first such rally since the March 21 arrest of Arvind Kejriwal, national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which is a major INDIA constituent, over alleged irregularities in Delhi’s 2021-22 excise policy.
The rally will not only include leaders and supporters of the AAP and Congress, allies in Delhi’s seven Lok Sabha seats, but a host of other opposition leaders, including the leaders of Shiv Sena (UBT), Samajwadi Party, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar), Trinamool Congress, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
“The rally highlights saving democracy, not an individual,” Ramesh said, calling it the Save Democracy Rally. Rising prices, record unemployment, widening economic disparities and targeting of opposition through arrests will be raised, he said.
The Delhi Traffic Police, meanwhile, announced sweeping restrictions in parts of central Delhi and roads leading to it between 9am and 3pm on Sunday. Traffic, an advisory said, may be restricted on key roads and areas such as Barakhamba Road, Minto Road, JLN Marg, DDU Marg and Delhi Gate areas.
“People going towards ISBT, railway station, or airport are advised to carefully plan their travel with sufficient time at hand,” it added.
Kalpana Soren, wife of JMM leader and jailed ex-Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, met Kejriwal’s wife on Saturday. “The same situation... in Jharkhand has emerged in Delhi,” she said, vowing to attend Sunday’s event.
Kejriwal’s remand was extended until April 7. The AAP calls his arrest a “political conspiracy” ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, despite raids yielding nothing.
Top leaders expected include Congress’s Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, Punjab CM and AAP leader Bhagwant Mann, NCP’s Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray, SP’s Akhilesh Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal Tejashwi Yadav, and leaders from the Left parties, people in the AAP said, asking not to be named.
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Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal, who has taken a more public role since her husband’s arrest, is likely to attend the rally as well, said AAP leaders, asking not to be named. AAP Delhi convener Gopal Rai visited the Ramlila Maidan on Saturday morning to take stock of the preparations.
“On a call given by AAP to save democracy and constitution, Ramlila Maidan is ready for a mega rally. Entire INDIA will roar against dictatorship on Sunday. This is our last chance to save country’s Constitution and democracy and if we do not raise our voice today then no one will be able to raise their voice tomorrow,” said Rai.
“The entire INDIA alliance is reaching the mega “Remove Dictatorship, Save Democracy” rally at Ramlila Maidan on Sunday against the dictatorial rule, murder of democracy, and the misuse of constitutional agencies. It will include all constituent parties of the alliance along with the top leadership of other opposition parties who will join hands with the people of Delhi to raise their voice against this dictatorship and to save democracy,” added Rai.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said people are amazed to see both AAP and Congress stand on the same page of corruption. “People of Delhi are shocked to see team Kejriwal stoop to the lowest levels by seeking political protection from political leaders they criticised for corruption. Tomorrow Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan will cry when it watches AAP leaders stand with Congress and other INDI alliance leaders whom they cursed at this very ground in August 2011 during an anti-corruption rally,” said Sachdeva.