A file image of I.N.D.I.A. bloc leaders meeting.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Top leaders of 24 I.N.D.I.A parties met for the first time in 13 months on Saturday evening and decided to raise Pahalgam terror attack and subsequent developments like Operation Sindoor, Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar and foreign policy issues prominently during the Monsoon Session of Parliament.
While AAP did not attend the online meeting, as it said it is “out of the I.N.D.I.A bloc”, the parties are also planning a joint protest by Opposition MPs – either a demonstration inside Parliament or a march to Election Commission or Jantar Mantar – against the SIR.
Apart from Parliament floor strategy meetings, leaders agreed to hold a meeting in person possibly early August.
The meeting was attended by Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi (Congress), Uddhav Thackeray (SS-UBT), Sharad Pawar (NCP-SP), Omar Abdullah (NC), Hemant Soren (JMM), Abhishek Banerjee (TMC), Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), MA Baby (CPI-M), D Raja (CPI), Dipankar Bhattacharya (CPI-MLL), G Devarajan (AIFB) and NK Premachandran (RSP) among others.
At the outset, sources said Kharge laid out the agenda saying that Pahalgam terror strike and Operation Sindoor, Bihar SIR and foreign policy should be their priority, to which other leaders agreed.
The leaders also agreed to add other issues like delimitation, statehood for Jammu and Kashmir, atrocities against SCs, STs, women and minorities while Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul suggested that they should take up issues unitedly one by one on a priority basis.
Sources said leaders were of the opinion that they should put the government on the mat over the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor. Rahul suggested that Pahalgam related issues could be clubbed with foreign policy failures of the Modi government, including US President Donald Trump’s claims on ceasefire between India and Pakistan.
Abdullah referred to the remarks of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha claiming responsibility for the security lapse that led to the Pahalgam attack and said the parties should now step up the demand for statehood for Jammu and Kashmir, as security issues were highlighted to demote it to a union territory.
There was a suggestion that the statehood issue could be forcefully raised along with the Pahalgam attack. Thackeray told the leaders that it was a shame that the government could not yet nab the terrorists.
The leaders also deliberated extensively on the SIR exercise claiming that the EC has not listened to their concerns. Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal and Forward Bloc General Secretary Devarajan suggested some form of protest while Tejashwi demanded that there should be a protest march to the EC.
Rahul’s comments against CPI(M) in Kerala was referred to by CPI General Secretary D Raja in the meeting though CPI(M) General Secretary M A Baby chose not to do so. Raja did not take the name of Rahul but said I.N.D.I.A leaders should be cautious about their public utterances and their remarks should not create trouble within the bloc and cause confusion among people.
“Nobody should equate the Left and RSS,” sources quoted Raja as saying. In Kerala, Rahul had said that both RSS and CPI(M) “do not have feelings for people”. Sources said Devarajan wanted the I.N.D.I.A MPs to raise the issue of Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya’s alleged refusal to meet trade unions who had called a general strike on July 9.
Sources said Banerjee raised the issue of SIR in Bihar, alleging that the BJP and the Election Commission are using it in the form of "backdoor NRC". "BJP is using 'E square' (E2) in its attack - ED for opposition leaders and EC for voters," he told the meeting.
Congress leaders also informed other leaders that the government has started collecting signatures for an impeachment notice against Allahabad High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma from whose house cash was recovered after a fire incident.