INDIA bloc along with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday held 'Loktantra Bachao' (Save Democracy) rally at Ramlila Maidan in the national capital to protest against the arrest of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.
Opposition leaders Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Bhagwant Mann, Akhilesh Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Sonia Gandhi, Uddhav Thakrey were among the prominent names present at the rally.
The leaders pressed for the release of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Jharkhand's former Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
Some of the event’s key highlights were:
1. The leaders called the "Loktantra Bachao Rally", a mark of the INDIA bloc's commitment to fighting, winning, and saving democracy in India.
2. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s wife, Sunita Kejriwal and JMM leader Hemant Soren’s wife Kalpana Soren addressed the gathering, rebuking the Central government over the arrest of their husbands in corruption cases.
3. Congress's Priyanka Gandhi Vadra listed five demands of the Opposition to the Election Commission that included the provision of a level playing field before the elections, a Supreme Court-monitored Special Investigation Team in alleged BJP's "extortion" of funds through the electoral bonds scheme, immediate release of Hemant Soren and Arvind Kejriwal among others.
4. Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of fixing the Lok Sabha polls and said that if the BJP succeeds in its endeavours, the country’s Constitution will be changed and people’s rights taken away.
5. Samajwadi party leader Akhilesh Yadav also accused BJP of using central agencies to target opposition leaders and urged people to vote against the saffron party in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
6. Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, who was also present at the rally attacked the Narendra Modi-led Centre and said the people in BJP are corrupt individuals and thugs.
7. CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury during the rally said a new energy in the politics of India has been born today and a call for independence is made to protect “our constitution and our Republic”.
8. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav while attacking PM Modi said he does not have time for farmers, says. “We are fighting the people's battle…you are the rulers and you will decide. When they say ‘ab ki baar, 400 paar,’ it seems that the EVMs have already been fixed. The people will not let that happen, he said.
9. Arvind Kejriwal’s wife, Sunita Kejriwal, also addressed the rally with the letter by mentioning 6 guarantees on behalf of him which included 24-hour nationwide electricity, free electricity for poor across the nation, good government schools in all villages and colonies, mohalla clinics for all mohallas (colonies) and villages, MSP for farmers as per the Swaminathan committee report and full statehood for Delhi.
10. Punjab Chief Minister and senior Aam Aadmi Party leader Bhagwant Mann while Praising Kejriwal said that he is not just a man but an ideology. "You can arrest Arvind Kejriwal, but how will you arrest his ideology?” he said.
11. Trinamool Congress Party MP Derek O'Brien staunchly declared his party’s support to INDIA alliance saying that Trinamool "very much was, is and will be part of the INDIA alliance". "This is a fight of BJP versus democracy," he added.
12. Former Jharkhand CM’s wife, Kalpana Soren, while addressing the rally, called her as the voice of 50 per cent of India's women population and 9 per cent of the tribal community and telling the gathering they are here to end the dictatorship."
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