‘Swaraj India will not be part of any mahagathbandhan’

Ananya Panda

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 9

Swaraj India will not be a part of “grand coalition” of opposition parties for 2019 general elections, as announced by its president Yogendra Yadav today while launching a “people’s campaign” for nation building with issues of agrarian crisis, plight of farmers and agitated youth in the wake of paper leaks in country’s top examinations being at its centre.

Yadav predicted that result of the 2019 polls will be similar to the election held after the Emergency wherein the Indira Gandhi government was ousted in 1977 and the farmers’ issues will play a decisive role next year.

“The 2019 Lok Sabha elections would be similar to the one during emergency. There is disenchantment with the current establishment (BJP), but the grand coalition is not the answer,” observed Yadav while appealing to the people to contribute to electoral politics by joining the “#iCan19-- Indian Citizens’ Action for Nation”.

Releasing an open letter addressed to citizens, Yadav said this is not a platform to support his party but to offer a channel to all those who are willing to contribute towards a political alternative.

“We are not going to be part of any mahagathbandhan for the 2019 elections,” Yadav noted while clearly asserting that the party will not blindly support other political parties.

“We are launching a new campaign I-Can19— Neither Hindu nor Muslim only farmer and youth,” he underlined.

Farmers’ issues have finally made it to the national platform after many years and aim is to defeat the anti-farmer establishment and keep a watch on others who have claimed to be farmers-friendly, Yadav said.

Referring to the recently-held massive farmers’ agitation at Ramlila Maidan, Swaraj India secretary general Avik Saha said for the first time farmers are setting the agenda for the upcoming elections.