Opposition meet : Our goal is to defeat BJP and protect India’s institutions says Rahul Gandhi 

Soon after meeting of the Opposition parties was over, Congress President Rahul Gandhi slammed the Modi government for damaging the institutions besides rampant corruption in the country.

Leaders of over 21 Opposition parties had met at Parliament House Annexe on Monday, December 10 ahead of the Winter Session of the Parliament. However, Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) - two main constituents of the proposed grand alliance - were conspicuous by their absent. Accompanied by Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and AAP MP Bhagwant Mann, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also attended the meeting.

Interestingly, the meeting of the opposition parties was coincided with the resignation of RBI Governor Urjit Patel.

“The RBI governor has resigned because he wanted to protect the institution,” said Rahul Gandhi after the meet. Rahul maintained that “there is a consensus among Opposition parties and we won’t allow assault on institutions like RBI. This has to stop.”

“Our goal is to defeat the BJP and protect India's institutions,” he said, adding that “ people are gradually coming together in fight against Modi regime.” Commenting on the meet, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu described the meet as “a historical meeting”.

“We have come together irrespective of our political compulsions,” he asserted, adding that “all the parties should come together to save India and to save the country’s institutions.”

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee proposed that the Opposition should meet again on Tuesday and call on the President over the RBI crisis.

Commenting on the RBI Governor Urjit Patel’s resignation Mamata said, “from CBI to RBI, institutions have become total disasters; it is matter of great shock.” She further stated that “the BJP is behaving like a dictator and there should be a campaign against this rule.”

After the meeting, the Congress president said in a statement :

We (the opposition parties) reaffirmed our strong and steadfast resolve to confront and defeat the forces that are subverting our Constitution and making a mockery of our democracy. India needs a government that cares for working class, kisans and khet mazdoors and is always sensitive to the enormous pain that they and their families are going through. India needs a government that makes education accessible and affordable to all sections of the people and fulfills the aspirations of youth for decent and secure jobs that provide fair wages to the employed.

India needs a government that empowers the weaker sections of society—scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, OBCs, women and minorities—to lead a life of complete security and dignity.

India needs a truthful government that does not propagate falsehoods and does not make bogus claims, that steadfastly follows Constitutional values and conventions in letter and spirit, that respects the autonomy of institutions, and that will banish the current all-pervasive atmosphere of fear and intimidation. A case in point is the sinister attack on autonomy of Reserve Bank of India by Modi government that has led to the unceremonious exit of RBI Governor today. We deprecate the systematic attack by the government on India’s Economy through a select band of government nominees arbitrarily dictating the Monitory Policies and compromising RBI’s institutional integrity.

India needs a government that is committed to faster economic growth which is socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable and growth that does not sharpen inequalities among people and among states. India needs a government that is not mired in rank corruption and loot of people’s resources, a government which does not attack the entire Banking System through insurmountable NPA’s benefiting crony capitalists. India needs a government that does not put a conspiratorial lid over multiple corruption scams like Rafale; nor becomes an abettor to the escape of bank defaulters.

India needs a government where Economic Growth focuses on addressing the concerns of small traders, shopkeepers and micro, small and medium enterprises that have been devastated by demonetisation and the ill-planned implementation of GST. We need a government where harassment of businessmen and industrialists would end and the spirit of enterprise must be allowed full freedom.

India needs a government that deals decisively with the problems of the present and the challenges of the future instead of a government that is only interested in re-imagining the past, re-writing and distorting history and re-naming cities and streets. India needs a government that listens to the people and not simply lectures to them.

India needs a government, for which Democracy is the magna carta beyond the victories and losses of electoral battles. Innumerable deficiencies, failures and plausible doubts on the neutral functionality of EVM’s per se have raised a question on the neutrality of poll process itself. It is our firm belief that this needs to be redressed without question and without delay.

In the course of the next few months we will place before the people of the country, a comprehensive programme of work anchored in complete transparency and accountability.

We call upon all liberal, progressive and secular forces to join us in our battle to save the Constitution, to protect parliamentary democracy, to preserve the freedom to think, speak and write as a free people, to strengthen the bonds of our unity while celebrating our diversity and to retrieve, repair and rebuild the economy. It is in the interests of safeguarding and strengthening our Constitutional Republic and People’s livelihood that this RSS/BJP government is ousted.