Indian Opposition Vows to Continue Resistance Against Government's Electoral Reforms

A day after petitioning the Supreme Court, the Opposition, seeking the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the scrapping of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls, said Tuesday it would keep up its “resistance” in “the fight to restore democracy” irrespective of the role institutions play. The Opposition also plans to challenge the government’s decision to cancel Jantar Mantar’s status as a designated protest site. Addressing the press after hosting Opposition leaders, student activists and civil society members for high tea at his residence, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi said, “We have extreme respect for the Supreme Court, for the Chief Justice of India, for the judicial system. They have a role to play. We hope they will play that role. No matter what happens, no matter which institution plays a role or not, political resistance will continue, people’s resistance will continue and it will triumph.” At the meeting, the Opposition discussed its next steps. Gandhi told all present that their outfits should be “ready to mobilise” within 24 hours, if needed. He said it was “not simple” to “destroy” the Constitution and get away with it, and reiterated that action would be taken against those involved in “vote chori”. “It is our commitment that the people who have done this – Mr Modi, who is the main architect, Amit Shah , who is the implementer, Gyanesh Kumar and others – they need to understand that the net is closing around them… We assure you that all would be brought to justice,” he said. Gandhi emphasised there were no multiple protests and all were together in the “fight to restore democracy”. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi , RJD leaders Tejashwi Yadav and Manoj Jha, SP’s Harender Malik, Anand Bhadauria and Mohibullah Nadvi, CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby, CPI general secretary D Raja and party MP P Sandosh Kumar, JMM MP Mahua Maji, AISA leader Neha Bora, CPI(M-L) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, Mamata AITC MPs Mahua Moitra and Sagarika Ghose, and Forward Bloc general secretary G Devarajan also attended the meeting. Both Tejashwi Yadav and D Raja criticised the government’s decision to cancel Jantar Mantar’s status as a protest site. “The government’s fear is evident in the denotification of Jantar Mantar as a protest site,” Yadav said. Condemning the decision, Raja announced a fight to “reclaim” Jantar Mantar. At the meeting, Opposition leaders agreed not to accept the decision to “de-notify Jantar Mantar as a protest site at any cost”, it is learnt. All INDIA bloc events in the coming days would include an attempt to march there, sources said. Earlier in the day, the CPI(M) alleged that the government removed Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site to “suppress dissent” and “weaken the right to hold peaceful demonstrations”. The CPI(M) Politburo criticised the decision, with M A Baby writing on X, “By denotifying Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site, if the Modi-Shah-Bhagawat trio think they can diffuse protests and make them invisible, they are wrong. Such moves further expose the BJP-led Union government’s intolerance of dissent and its contempt for the constitutional right to peaceful protests.” “There is one enemy and that is the BJP. The BJP has never had a role in making the Constitution … It is wonderful that all Opposition parties are united. Our fight is only against the BJP,” AISA leader Bora said. NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule said all democratic forces had “come together because the Constitution has been threatened”. In her remarks Mamata AITC’s Sagarika Ghose said the INDIA bloc would not “stop till action is taken against Gyanesh Kumar and officials involved in vote chori”. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said the movement to oust the CEC would continue under Gandhi’s leadership. Sources said the Opposition leaders appeared satisfied with the turnout for the march to the Supreme Court and reviewed the protests held so far. Sonia Gandhi, the sources said, told the leaders they should “keep the focus on people”, and that “the people should not be inconvenienced”. There was also a discussion on raising the issue of price rise since it directly affects people, but the LoP and a few others said shifting the conversation now would mean “going easy” on the government and that they should continue “this fight” until the CEC resigns. There was also a discussion on “decentralising” the protests, but Gandhi is learnt to have said that while protests should happen across the country, the INDIA bloc cannot ease the pressure in Delhi as it affects the government the most. All present at the meeting agreed to decide the next course of action after the Supreme Court hears their petition. An idea was also floated to host a “mock Parliament session” at a joint Opposition rally being planned for the first week of November at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan. The proposal is to show the CEC being “impeached” at the mock session, but the proposal will be discussed further, according to sources. One leader also suggested that people whose names were deleted during the SIR should be invited to the rally. Most leaders agreed with the proposal, it is learnt.