Opposition announces ‘mission to restore democracy’, plans India Plus group

Rahul Gandhi said the Opposition would challenge the Centre’s decision to de-notify Jantar Mantar as a protest site, vowing to defend people’s democratic rights

The Opposition parties on Tuesday announced a “mission to restore democracy”, vowing to intensify their political fight against the Union government’s decision to de-notify Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site. The parties also agreed to wait for the Supreme Court’s response to their petition filed on Monday before organising another massive march in the heart of Delhi.

The Opposition leaders described Monday’s march to the Supreme Court as a significant achievement and decided to form an “INDIA Plus” group to bring together political parties, activists, students and other organisations. They also discussed a tentative plan to organise a mock Parliament, while Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi urged the leaders to remain prepared for “surprise movements”.

“We are all standing here together as one. As I said yesterday, there are no parallel protests. There is one singular protest, and the protest has one mission: restoration of democracy in India,” Gandhi told the media after the meeting.

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“Democracy has been destroyed in this country. The election system has been destroyed. The Constitution has been torn up and thrown away. We are fighting together to restore democratic rule, genuine democratic rule in this country,” he said.

Gandhi said Jantar Mantar had been a place where people could express their democratic aspirations, but the government had now decided that it could no longer be used for that purpose.

“Well, we are going to challenge that idea. It is not going to be so simple for the government to decide that the Indian people will not fight for their voice. The people who have done this, they need to understand that the net is closing around them. It is not going to be so simple that you can destroy the Indian Constitution and get away with it,” he added.

Gandhi also thanked the people of Delhi and other parts of the country for supporting Monday’s march, saying the mobilisation reflected public sentiment rather than merely the efforts of political parties.

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“Yesterday you saw an expression, not of the political parties standing here, but an expression of the people of India. We were there, but what happened yesterday could not have happened without the expression of the average citizen of this country, non-political citizen of this country,” he said.

He added that the Opposition wanted to thank the people who had stood with them against the government’s decision.

“This is not about us, this is about the people of India, this is about the future of the people of India. And we, all of us together, because we love you and we respect you are going to fight to the end to restore the democratic process in this country. It is our commitment, the people who have done this, are going to be brought to justice,” Gandhi said.

Oppn to await SC response before next mega march

The meeting, which lasted more than two hours, saw several leaders criticise the government’s decision to remove Jantar Mantar from the list of designated protest sites.

The Union Home Ministry has notified Ramlila Ground, Burari Ground and CBD Ground in east Delhi as designated protest sites.

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Apart from Gandhi, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge attended the meeting. It was among the rare occasions in recent times when Gandhi hosted Opposition leaders for a tea meeting at his official residence at 5, Sunehri Bagh Road.

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leaders Tejashwi Yadav and Manoj Jha, and Samajwadi Party leaders Anand Bhadauria, Harender Malik and M Nadvi were also present.

Other attendees included Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Mahua Maji, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary MA Baby, Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary D Raja and party MP Sandosh Kumar, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation leader Dipankar Bhattacharya, and Forward Bloc leader G Devarajan.

Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) MP Supriya Sule, Kerala Congress leader Jose K Mani and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) leader Thol Thirumavalavan also participated in the meeting. All India Students’ Association (AISA) chief Neha Bora, Students’ Federation of India (SFI) leader Aishee Ghosh, and activists Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan were among those present.