INDORE: With some of its A listers having other things to do, the opposition’s B team did the honours at a unity rally in the saffron citadel of Indore on Wednesday.
In a show titled Sanjhi Virasat Bachao Sammelan, Digvijay Singh, Anand Sharma and Arun Yadav of the Congress, Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar of JD (U), Jayant Chaudhary of the RLD, Sitaram Yechuri of the CPM, D Raja of the CPI, Tariq Anwar of the NCP and Dharmendra Yadav of the SP joined voices in a chorus meant to rouse opinion against Narendra Modi.
Indore is represented in the Lok Sabha by eight-time MP and present LS speaker Sumitra Mahajan and is home to BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayavargiya. Seven of the eight Assembly seats in the city are held by the BJP. The rally, therefore, was meant to be a shot across the bow of the BJP.
The PM took most of the flak at the rally, described a leader surrounded by sycophants and a man who treats his critics as personal enemies.
Addressing the gathering, Sharad Yadav, the prime mover of the programme, launched a scathing attack on the Modi government. “Those who peel the skin of dead animals have been skinned alive in Una, a man having his lunch was dragged out and lynched in Dadri, a JNU student is missing. Violence has been unleashed against Dalits in Saharanpur, thousands of farmers are ending their lives, people are being lynched for cow. This has never happened in 70 years of our Independence,” he said.
Other speakers targeted the RSS as well. Anand Sharma, questioning when the grand statue of Sardar Patel would be unveiled by the Modi government, demanded that whenever it is, there ought to be a plaque on it, explaining why India’s first home minister wanted a ban on the RSS.