New Delhi: Knowing that numbers do not favour them in Parliament for an impeachment motion against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, the Opposition INDIA bloc’s battle against alleged poll malpractices is being elevated outside.
This is where some of the bloc’s constituents want to see a larger role for the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), whose movement against the NEET paper leak and irregularities in the examination process gained wide traction, leading to the resignation of the then Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The INDIA bloc and CJP are running separate organisational programmes rather than a formally unified movement, which may be described as converging on the same issue while maintaining distinct protest events and leadership.
There were reportedly no wider discussions within the INDIA bloc specifically over including or working alongside CJP, where a consensus reportedly exists on supporting them.
The INDIA bloc announced a week-long “Save Democracy” campaign, including district-level marches, demonstrations and a march by Opposition MPs to the Election Commission demanding greater transparency in electoral-roll revisions and calling for Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation.
At the same time, the CJP has been conducting its own protests, with similar demands, including the resignation of the CEC, a halt to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll, and reforms in the Election Commission’s appointment process.
Thus, even as the larger CJP movement was observed in Mumbai on Friday, the attempted political rally in Delhi witnessed the presence of many from among its ranks.
Earlier, when reaching out to Opposition parties to revive the anti-CEC stir in unison, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary M. A. Baby contacted the CJP as well. It was described as part of a broader effort to build the widest possible opposition platform against the Election Commission, largely due to Gyanesh Kumar’s handling of the SIR exercise.
On September 26, he wrote to political parties across the spectrum and had also communicated with the CJP, admitting it was not recognised as a political party. He explained that the objective was to create a bigger movement involving all political forces opposed to what he described as the Election Commission’s “unilateral” and alleged pro-government functioning.
This may be seen as the CPI (M) leadership viewing CJP as a mobilising force on a specific issue and willing to cooperate despite ideological or organisational differences.
Baby’s letter and subsequent interactions with CJP appear as a tactical political outreach aimed at expanding a common opposition campaign.
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress founder Mamata Banerjee, in Delhi for the INDIA meeting, addressed a press conference the following day, where she took a question on a possible convergence or coordination.
Without going for a direct answer, she said they’re with the group and pointed to the presence of her MPs at the CJP’s earlier protests against paper leak at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.
She again chose to answer indirectly in Kolkata on Friday, where she told the waiting media at the airport, “We fully support the movements of the Cockroach Janata Party and the youth,” adding, “We have also demanded the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner.”
The Congress, meanwhile, appears intent to project Rahul Gandhi as the face of protests, where the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha chose to hold a flash protest with some party colleagues outside the Prime Minister’s residence in July in what was seen as an attempt to reclaim the space over the paper leak issue being taken up by CJP.
Though the Congress supported the CJP demands, its youth and student wings also staged related protests seeking Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation.
Within the INDIA platform, the party continues to retain pole position despite organisations like the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) stepping out of the INDIA bloc largely over political differences and regional interests.
Among the close to 20 parties that participated in the grouping’s meeting in Delhi, India’s “grand old party” far surpasses any other with 98 members in Lok Sabha and 30 in the Upper House. That is where many regional satraps choose to go along in a desperate bid to stall the BJP juggernaut due to an apparent arithmetic in the alliance.
(IANS)
