Send powerful message: Rahul Gandhi writes to Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee on opposition rally he will skip

india

Updated: Jan 18, 2019 14:25 IST

Congress president Rahul Gandhi has written to West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee extending his support to the mega opposition rally she is hosting on Saturday.

The rally is being seen as the gathering of parties against the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the Lok Sabha election to be held later this year.

“The entire opposition is united... I extend my support to Mamata Di on this show of unity and hope that we send a powerful message of a united India together,” Gandhi wrote in his letter on Friday.

“The entire opposition is united in our belief that true nationalism and development can only be defended on the tested pillars of democracy, social justice and secularism, ideas that the BJP and Mr (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi are intent on destroying,” he said.

The Congress chief also talked about “powerful forces fanned by anger and disappointment of hundreds of millions of Indians who had seen through false promises and lies peddled by the Modi government”.

“These forces are moved by the hope of a new tomorrow; a tomorrow filled with the idea of an India in which the voice of every man, woman and child would be heard and respected, no matter what their religion, economic status or region,” he said.

The West Bengal chief minister has said the rally in Kolkata would sound the “death knell” for the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections and regional parties would be the deciding factor.

Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress is hosting the rally, which will be attended by a host of regional party leaders from across the country.

The Congress president and his mother Sonia Gandhi will not attend the rally and the party would be represented by leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge.

The BJP’s Arun Shourie and Shatrughan Sinha and former party leader Yashwant Sinha, all of who are staunchly opposed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP, have said they will go to the rally.

BSP chief Mayawati, who recently struck an alliance pact with Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, has deputed party general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Satish Chandra Misra in her place.

Akhilesh Yadav, former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Farooq Abdullah and son Omar will be among those attending the rally. Former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, his son and Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal are also going.

DMK president MK Stalin, RLD chief Ajit Singh, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Lalu Prasad’s son Tejashwi Yadav would join the rally.

Banerjee has also invited CPI(M) leader and Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, but he is yet to confirm attendance.