Parties that have consistently questioned the Congress’ position as the principal Opposition party — the Aam Aadmi Party, Trinamool Congress, Bharat Rashtra Samithi and Samajwadi party — came out in support of senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday, hours after he was disqualified from the Lok Sabha. They used the opportunity to further sharpen their attack on the ruling BJP.
On the other hand, Opposition parties that have often been on the fence on opposing the BJP — Biju Janata Dal and YSR Congress — were eloquent in their silence. There were also no comments from the Janata Dal (Secular), which is caught in a triangular contest with the BJP and Congress in Karnataka.
‘Most corrupt PM’
Speaking in the Delhi Assembly, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asserted that the BJP got Rahul Gandhi’s membership cancelled as “they are scared of him”.
“Narendra Modi is the most corrupt Prime Minister in the history of India and also the least educated. I don’t think that India has had a PM who is a 12 pass. He is not being able to run the government and all he does is spend the day planning who to send to jail,” Mr. Kejriwal said. Speaking to reporters outside the Assembly chambers, the Delhi CM went a step further and accused the BJP of running a “dictatorship” at the Centre, calling its government “more dangerous than the British rule.”
“The BJP is trying to create an atmosphere in the country of one nation, one party, one leader, and do away with the Opposition. This is called dictatorship,” he said.
Also read: Rahul Gandhi gets two-year jail term in defamation case
‘New low for democracy’
Since the Trinamool Congress’ victory in the West Bengal Assembly elections in May 2021, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been asserting that only regional parties like hers can defeat the BJP. However, she also spoke out in support of Mr. Gandhi on Friday.
“In PM Modi’s New India, Opposition leaders have become the prime target of BJP! While BJP leaders with criminal antecedents are inducted into the cabinet, Opposition leaders are disqualified for their speeches. Today, we have witnessed a new low for our constitutional democracy,” she tweeted.
Till last week, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav was equating the Congress with the BJP. Speaking to reporters on Friday, however, he said that Mr. Gandhi’s disqualification was part of a series of actions that the BJP had been taking against Opposition leaders, citing the disqualification of senior SP leader Azam Khan from the Lok Sabha and his son Abdullah Khan from the Uttar Pradesh Assembly as an example.
“These actions are to distract the public from real issues, such as runaway inflation, rising unemployment and now the latest episode of crony capitalism,” he added.
‘Arrogance and dictatorship’
BRS president and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao, who has been working to build a third front without the Congress, gave his unqalified support to Mr. Gandhi. “Today is a Black Day in the history of Indian democracy. Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from Parliament is the height of Narendra Modi’s arrogance and dictatorship... This is not the time for conflicts between parties. All democrats should openly condemn the misdeeds of the BJP government to safeguard the democracy and constitutional values in the country,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Congress’ allies and friendly parties also came out in full support, condemning the alacrity shown by the Lok Sabha secretariat in disqualifying the Wayanad MP. Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury tweeted, “It’s condemnable that the BJP is now using the criminal defamation route to target Opposition leaders and disqualify them, as done with Rahul Gandhi now. This comes on top of the gross misuse of ED/CBI [the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation] against the Opposition. Resist and defeat such authoritarian assaults.”
Communist Party of India general secretary D. Raja said that the speed at which Mr. Gandhi was disqualified was a signal to “the sinister path BJP-RSS are taking our democracy [on]”. He tweeted, “Before they turn India into an intolerant monolith with no dissent, unite and defeat BJP-RSS!”
(with inputs from Jaideep Deo Bhanj in Delhi)
