NEW DELHI: Calling for a broader Opposition mobilisation over the SIR row, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee urged INDIA bloc leaders on Wednesday to set aside their egos, saying extraordinary situations call for extraordinary action to fight the BJP and its machinations.
At the meeting, as many as 20 INDIA bloc parties finalised a joint action plan, including rallies and ‘save democracy marches’. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said all parties at the meeting agreed that elections should be held through ballot papers instead of EVMs.
Referring to her phone conversation with CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby last week, Banerjee stressed the need for parties to put aside their differences. “Mr Baby wrote to me, and I responded positively to him. I have been talking to other leaders also. Yesterday, I spoke to BJD’s Naveen Patnaik,” she is learnt to have told the meeting.
Baby wrote to several non-NDA parties last week, seeking a coordinated response to the Election Commission row. His outreach included the BRS, AAP, DMK, BJD and TVK. Responding positively, Banerjee wrote back that the effort should be taken forward to mobilize all Opposition parties.
The two subsequently spoke over the phone. Baby said they also recalled their days in Parliament, when Banerjee was in the Lok Sabha, and he was a Rajya Sabha member.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Baby called for the entire Opposition to unite on the issue and involve civil society and public intellectuals committed to secular and democratic principles.
Speaking towards the end of the meeting, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi urged leaders to believe in themselves, saying panic had set in within the BJP and the “system” was beginning to crumble.
“The BJP is in panic mode. Don’t be under any illusion that the BJP is invincible. PM Modi and Amit Shah are aware that the system is crumbling,” Gandhi is learnt to have told the meeting. Independent Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal called for legal action alongside mass protests, sources said. He is learnt to have suggested that Opposition MPs should jointly move the Supreme Court to seek an early hearing of the pending petitions on SIR.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which have distanced themselves from the INDIA bloc, skipped the meeting but are learnt to have agreed to sign a fresh Opposition notice seeking the removal of the Chief Election Commissioner.
CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby met AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday, while TMC’s Derek O’Brien met AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh on Tuesday morning as Opposition leaders sought wider support for the notice. DMK leader Kanimozhi had also met TMC chief Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata on September 17.