As Rahul, Tejashwi get set for Bihar Yatra, INDIA closes rank, SIR to ‘vote chori' row

Indian Express

2 days ago

With the Opposition displaying rare unity in Parliament over the Election Commission (EC)'s special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar and applauding him for his presentation on alleged 'vote chori (theft)' in Karnataka, Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi now seems to be keen to capitalise on this new-found bonhomie in the INDIA bloc, which has for long been in a state of limbo.
At a dinner for top INDIA alliance leaders in Delhi on Thursday evening, Rahul and LoP in the Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Yadav invited all of them to attend a rally to be held by the Congress and the RJD in Patna on September 1. If they all turn up for the rally, it would mark a rare event when the Opposition bloc leaders would be sharing a dais. Even during the 2024 Lok Sabha poll campaign, the parties had been unable to come together on one stage.
The previous instances when the Opposition alliance leaders came together was during rallies in Delhi and Ranchi to protest the arrests of ex-Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren. If the top brass of the bloc comes together once again on a stage, it would mark a new chapter in coordination among the Opposition parties outside Parliament. It would also be interesting since two states where the INDIA bloc's constituents are rivals – Kerala and West Bengal – are headed to the Assembly polls in about eight months.
In Kerala, the Congress will take on the CPI(M)-led Left, while in West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) will be up against the Congress and the Left parties. But that electoral compulsion apart, there seems to be an agreement in the alliance as of now that the 'electoral malpractice' issue that Rahul has been raising as well as the SIR in Bihar were critical for the parties necessitating their unity.
Sources said there was much bonhomie between Rahul and TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee at the dinner meet the former hosted at his residence. The two were engaged in a long conversation and the TMC too is said to be happy with the hospitality shown by the Gandhis. The TMC always stresses on a distinction between itself and the other INDIA parties, stating that while others are electoral allies of the Congress, the TMC is not. Sources said Rahul extended an invitation to Abhishek and West Bengal CM and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee for the September 1 Patna rally. It is in many ways a rapprochement of sorts between the Congress and TMC.
The Congress, which has been on the receiving end of taunts and attacks by its allies for failing to take the initiative to keep the INDIA bloc alive, has finally decided to take charge. Before the start of Parliament's Monsoon Session last month, the Congress convened an online meeting of the Opposition's floor leaders, which it had not done in the previous sessions after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. And in the last fortnight, both Rahul and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge have chaired multiple meetings of INDIA parties to ensure smooth floor coordination. The SIR is, of course, the new-found glue.
For many Opposition parties, it is the prospect of a nation-wide electoral roll revision that is of key concern. And that is what is uniting them. Even the Kejriwal-led AAP, which had walked out of the INDIA bloc, is with the other Opposition parties in raising the issue and paralysing Parliament with protests.
The Patna rally would mark the conclusion of a fortnight-long yatra planned by the Congress and RJD. Rahul and Tejashwi are expected to launch the hybrid yatra – called the 'Matdata Adhikar Yatra' – from Sasaram on August 17. Said to be an idea floated by the Congress, the yatra will cover around 100 Assembly constituencies in Bihar's Seemanchal and Mithilanchal regions, and would serve to launch the Mahagathbandhan alliance's campaign for the Bihar Assembly elections due in barely three months.
The Mahagathbandhan believes the SIR has huge resonance on the ground in Bihar and hopes to carry forward its narrative against it till the Assembly elections. The yatra was originally scheduled to start from August 10, but was postponed by a week following JMM patriarch and ex-Jharkhand CM Shibu Soren's demise. On August 11, the INDIA bloc MPs will also take out a march to the EC's office from Parliament.
Meanwhile, the CPI(M) Politburo has issued a statement urging the EC to take 'remedial measures to restore public confidence in the electoral process'. 'In recent times, serious questions have been raised about the fairness of elections – ranging from irregularities in the preparation of electoral rolls, particularly the SIR process in Bihar, to malpractices witnessed in the state elections of Maharashtra and Karnataka – which appear to favour the ruling party,' the CPI(M) stated. 'It is the duty of the EC to conduct thorough inquiries into the issues raised by the Opposition… and to demonstrate to the people that it is a transparent and impartial constitutional body.'