Oppn joins hands, still short of hands? : The Tribune India

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Oppn joins hands, still short of hands?

NEW DELHI: Claiming that the NDA government at the Centre was trying to turn India into a “Hindu Pakistan”, the Opposition jamboree today came under one umbrella on the call of estranged JD-U leader Sharad Yadav to “save the composite culture” of the country.

Oppn joins hands, still short of hands?

Rahul Gandhi shakes hands with former JD-U chief Sharad Yadav as ex-PM Manmohan Singh and CPM’s Sitaram Yechury look on. PTI



Mukesh Ranjan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 17

Claiming that the NDA government at the Centre was trying to turn India into a “Hindu Pakistan”, the Opposition jamboree today came under one umbrella on the call of estranged JD-U leader Sharad Yadav to “save the composite culture” of the country. However, top leaders of splinter groups of the old Janata Parivar were conspicuous by their absence.

After distancing himself from Bihar Chief Minister and JD-U president Nitish Kumar following his decision to ally with the BJP, Yadav’s move to gather Opposition parties under one umbrella is seen as his show of strength.

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Congress bigwigs, former PM Manmohan Singh, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, senior leader Ahmed Patel and leader of the party in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, attended the meeting. CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury and CPI leader D Raja represented the Left.

The theme of the meeting, which attracted a huge audience from neighbouring Haryana and western UP districts, was “Sanjhi Virasat Bachao Andolan”.

The leaders’ speeches had a common thread that “there is a need to save the composite culture of India” and ensure that the present dispensation “does not succeed in tinkering with the Preamble of the Constitution”, which pledges unity.

“Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Isai (Christians) are the four pillars that provide stability to the unity of our great civilisation. Any attempt to disturb this, which, I feel, is being attempted, will lead only in turning India into a ‘Hindu Pakistan’. We need to come together and fight it out,” Yechury said.

Rahul attacked the government for failing to keep its promise of bringing back black money stashed abroad and creating jobs for the youth. He said PM Narendra Modi wanted to create a “Swachch Bharat” but people wanted a “sach Bharat”.

He also targeted the RSS, saying it was bent on changing the Constitution. “One says this country is mine, but the other says I belong to the country. That’s the difference between the RSS and us,” he said.

Yadav, who spoke at the end, extolled the gathering that the main purpose of calling such a meeting was to protect the “Preamble of the Constitution”. “Sanjhi Virasat means people belonging to different faiths and castes should live together in unity,” he said.

Former Jammu and Kashmir CM Farooq Abdullah avoided taking names, but took a broadside at the government, saying: “India could face China and Pakistan but somebody within the country is determined to spoil everything.”

None from among the top leadership of the splinter groups of erstwhile Janata Parivar — Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav of the SP, Mayawati of the BSP, Lalu Prasad and Tejaswi Yadav of the RJD, HD Deve Gowda of the JD-S and Ajit Singh of the RLD — attended the meeting. Even the NCP’s Sharad Pawar and TMC’s Mamata Banerjee gave the event a miss. All these parties were represented by second or third-rung leaders.

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