Vote Bachao Rally at Ramlila Ground: Leaders Defend Plans
New Delhi, October 31: Ahead of the INDIA bloc's proposed rally at Ramlila Maidan on November 1, the political debate over its impact has grown sharper. BJP leaders have questioned how the gathering might affect traders and the public. Congress leaders have defended the plan, saying the rally will not cause losses to the business community and that the turnout will be very large.
Congress leaders say the rally has been planned with care and is not designed to hurt traders. They estimate that more than 10 lakh people will attend.
Speaking about the event, Congress MP Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy said the November 1 rally at Ramlila Maidan would be based on the theme of 'Vote Bachao'. He stated that the party wants the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. He added that if the issue had been discussed properly in Parliament, such a situation would not have developed. He said people from across the country were coming to Delhi to make the rally successful.
Congress MP Pawan Khera said that over 10 lakh people would come and that Delhi has a big heart to welcome them. On the question of possible losses to traders, he referred to a Wednesday when the markets were open and a rally by BJP president Nitin Nabin had not caused harm. He asked who would believe that a rally held on a Sunday, when markets are closed, would hurt traders. He said everything was well organised and preparations were complete, and he expected party workers' efforts to be visible the next day despite rain.
Congress MP Karmveer Singh Bauddh said the Constitution was under threat because the BJP government had taken over all the constitutional bodies created under it. He alleged that lakhs and crores of votes had been cut to help a defeated government win. He said the pandal at Ramlila Maidan would be too small because people were highly motivated. Many have already reached Delhi and more are arriving, he said, describing the rally as big and historic. He again demanded the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar and said traders were brothers whom the party had no intention of harming. Protecting the Constitution and democracy was the priority, he said.
Uttar Pradesh Congress president Aradhana Misra Mona, responding to the same concern, said the country's democracy and Constitution must be safe for people to celebrate Diwali and Holi. She said the rally was meant to save democracy and the Constitution and described it as a call by Rahul Gandhi and INDIA alliance partners. She said it had turned into a people's movement.
Congress leader Rajendra Pal Gautam said that November 1 is a Sunday and nearby markets stay shut. He said the arrival of millions of people would increase business and that the trade loss argument did not hold. He accused BJP-linked traders of spreading falsehoods and invited traders who were not part of that campaign to join the rally. He called it a historic gathering in which the INDIA bloc under Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge was fighting a second struggle for independence. He said participants were paying their own travel expenses and that the rally would be bigger than any in the last two decades.
Congress leader Naseem Khan said he could not see how traders would be harmed and argued that they would gain. He said 8 to 10 lakh people visiting Delhi during the Diwali season would attend the rally, then shop and explore the city, which would boost trade. He claimed only two or four people were making noise on the instructions of the BJP.