The conglomeration of 28 national and regional parties known as INDIA in its third successful political conclave at Mumbai was a great opposition event posing direct political threat to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Juggernaut especially after the BJP led NDA government calling a special parliament session from 18 to 22 September for five days with an unknown agenda creating quite a suspense. The leaders of 28 political parties and six chief Ministers of the opposition ruled states participated in it. There are speculations of one nation one election possibility holding the elections of five state with the general elections or bringing a bill on 33% reservation or an early national election. However, the united anti BJP opposition INDIA block has taken a pledge to take on the BJP led NDA unitedly to contest the general elections together ensuring that on at least 400 parliamentary seats at the pan INDIA level a single consensus opposition candidate is made to contests on every seat against the BJP candidates, come what may. According to the joint statement issued after the INDIA bloc meeting attended by almost all the top leaders it was decided that they will contest the elections unitedly trying their level best to arrive at the consensus. The joint statement read : we the INDIA, parties hereby resolve to contest the forthcoming elections unitedly as far as possible with seat sharing arrangements in different states to be initiated immediately concluding it at the earliest in a collaborative spirit of give and take. The joint statement added that we the INDIA parties , hereby resolve to organise public rallies at the earliest in different parts of the country on issues of public concern and importance further adding that we also resolve to coordinate our respective communication and media strategies and campaigns with the theme, “Judega Bharat Jitega India” in different languages. The anti BJP opposition party leaders castigated the BJP led NDA government for forming a committee for studying the feasibility of one nation one election strategy accusing it for destroying the federal structure and character of the country terming it as unconstitutional. According to Shiv Sena MP and senior leader Sanjay Raut a 14 member joint coordination committee including media and social media and few other committees have been formed and the INDIA bloc has emerged as a very strong and cohesive opposition political force in the country. He said that we demand free andfair elections and are against one nation one election as being propagated by the BJP led government. He added that one nation one election is nothing but a strategic ploy of the government to divert the attention of countrymen from fair and impartial general elections. The national council general secretary of Communist Party of India D. Raja said the prime minister says that India is the mother of democracy but takes a unilateral decision on one nation one election dictatorially not taking other political parties into confidence. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi exhorted all to stand unitedly and fight the elections against BJP as a single United force with proper seat sharing arrangement in the general election. Several other senior leaders spoke on the occasion coming down heavily on prime minister Narendra Modi with the Shiv Sena, Rajya Sabha, MP Priyanka, Chaturvedi raising the farmers issue , massive unemployment and China capturing Indian territories and the government literally doing nothing to protect the Indian territories. She said that these pivotal issues should have been addressed in the special Parliament session than serving its own vested agenda. Castigating and accusing the BJP government for having failed on employment, inflation, women issues and corruption fronts she said that instead of diverting the people’s attention from these pivotal issues, the government should work to resolve these burning issues affecting the countrymen. The INDIA bloc also unanimously passed a resolution congratulating the space scientists for the successful landing of Chandrayaan 3 on the Moon’s Southern pole . The resolution said : We the India parties congratulate the entire ISRO family – present and the past for its outstanding achievements which has made our country proud. It has, taken six decades to build, expand and deepen INDIAN SPACE RESEARCH ORGANISATION’s capacities and capabilities. Chandrayaan-3 has thrilled the world, which is looking eagerly to the launch of Aditya-L1 tomorrow. We hope that the extraordinary accomplishments of ISRO strengthen the spirit of scientific temper in our society and give our youth the inspiration to excel in fields of scientific endeavour,” states the resolution that was passed with unanimity said the statement of INDIA BLOC. The Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Nitish Kumar, Arvind Kejrival, Faruq Abdulla, Lalu Prasad Yadav , Sharad Pawar, Nitish Kumar, Udhav Thakrey and several leaders spoke on the occasion taking a united pledge to defeat the Modi government at all costs and ensure unity and solidarity among themselves come what may by ensuring that single opposition candidates are finalised against the BJP and NDA candidates in all states of the country to ensure that the opposition votes are not divided at any cost. Prominent among those present in the INDIA conclave were Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Nitish Kumar, Mamta Bannerjee, Sharad Pawar, Udhav Thakrey, his son, Sanjay Raut, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Supriya Sule, Tejasvi Yadav, Punjab C.M.Mann, Farukh Abdullah, Arvind, Kejriwal, D. Raja, Kapil Sibal, Mehbooba Mufti, Stalin, K. C. Tyagi, Manoj Jha, Rajiv Ranjan , Arun Kumar etc etc of all opposition political parties.
