Socialist leader Madhu Limaye's 95th birth anniversary will be celebrated on Monday not just by his political followers, but also by those who did not see eye-to-eye with him during his lifetime. Indeed, the organisers of the event to be held at the Constitution Club here want it to be a show of strength for anti-BJP opposition parties in the country, signalling the end of what the Socialists had described as ‘anti-Congressism’.
The conclave will be attended by leaders from the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party, the Janata Dal (United), the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Rashtriya Lok Dal, the CPI(M), the CPI, the Janta Dal(S) and the Samajwadi Janata Party.
As May 1 is also International Labour Day, the occasion will also be used by the opposition parties gathered there to critique policies of the BJP-led NDA government that have adversely affected farmers, workers and the common man.
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Close to three years after the Modi government came to power, the secular Opposition has begun to realise that the ruling BJP is not just winning more elections, there is a growing Hindu consolidation that threatens the essential diversity of the country.
Sonia initiative
In recent weeks, Congress President Sonia Gandhi has taken the initiative of meeting opposition leaders from the Nationalist Congress Party, the Janata Dal(U), the Left Parties and even the Biju Janata Dal — that till recently said it was equidistant from both the Congress and the BJP — to build consensus on a common Opposition presidential candidate. The Trinamool Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party are all on board on this project, too.
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Now on Monday as the socialists remember Madhu Limaye, an invitation to the Congress will announce the end of ‘anti-Congressism’ as the socialist and Left parties gather together with the Congress to strengthen the fight against the BJP: the Congress's official representative at the conclave will be senior leader Digvijaya Singh.
In recent times, the end of anti-Congressism has been on display: it was first seen in the Bihar polls of 2015 when the JD-U and the RJD joined hands with the Congress; it was also seen when the SP allied itself with the Congress in Uttar Pradesh earlier this year.
Taking on Hindutva
JD(U) leader K.C. Tyagi points out that though Limaye was a proponent of anti-Congressism, shortly before he died he had begun to see the need to take on the Hindutva forces. Indeed, Limaye had written at the time: “The capacity of the non-Congress and non-BJP parties to win a Lok Sabha majority, in the first place, and pull together for any length of time afterwards, is at best doubtful. The reform and renewal of the Congress(I) is, therefore, in the nation's interest. Faction spirit is not the answer. While I ardently hope that the challenge of the non-Congress secular parties would become stronger and more coherent and purposeful, as a well-wisher of the country, I would also like to see a reformed and united Congress Party.”
The organisers also point out that during the period when the Janata Party was in power, there had been an intense debate over whether the leaders of the Jan Sangh — the precursor of the BJP — should give up their membership of the RSS before formally joining the Janata Party which had a secular-democratic-socialist constitution. Limaye had started the debate, insisting that the Jan Sangh leaders joining the Janata Party be asked to formally declare their allegiance to a pluralist democratic state. Only Atal Behari Vajpayee would formally declare his allegiance to composite nationalism, socialism and democracy, according to Limaye's own writings.