BJP government plans Quit India 2, Congress fumes

MUMBAI: The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Opposition are now in a tussle over the Quit India movement.

MUMBAI: The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Opposition are now in a tussle over the Quit India movement.

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On the 74th anniversary of the Quit India movement that was launched in 1942, the BJP-led government has planned a “Quit India 2” campaign to fight corruption, illiteracy, farmer suicides, addiction and water wastage.

The state government issued an advertisement in newspapers on Monday announcing the campaign that will be launched by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis at the August Kranti Maidan on Tuesday. This is the same place where Mahatma Gandhi had called for the movement.

The Congress has strongly criticised the BJP for politicising the movement’s background. The party said the BJP or its ideological fountainhead Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) were never associated with the movement and their attempt to use its name would belittle its importance.

City unit chief of Mumbai Congress Sanjay Nirupam questioned the saffron party’s right to use the movement’s legacy.

“The RSS was never associated with the Quit India movement that Mahatma Gandhi launched on August 9, 1942. In fact, they had opposed it. By claiming to launch the second phase, they are ridiculing the legacy,” said Nirupam. “They have never given importance to Independence Day either. It is for the first time that the BJP-led government was seen celebrating the movement’s anniversary at the Gowalia tank,” he said.

The Congress has also called for a protest against the government for not allowing it to celebrate the anniversary. The party claimed that it had been denied permission, despite having asked for it well in advance and despite the fact that it celebrates the day every year at the ground. Nirupam also alleged that the BJP has raised its pandal illegally and the Congress would raze it if denied permission.

“After we applied for permission on July 18, the Mumbai Police and the Archeological Survey of India granted it to us, but the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, on the behest of BJP leaders, denied us permission. On the contrary, the BJP put up a pandal there illegally. Such is the high-handedness of the ruling party,” he added.