Mahagathbandhan: An extraordinary coalition of parties and political views If they can hang together, the BJP will have a fight on its hands

| | Published 19.01.19, 02:15 PM

It isn't often that English becomes the lingua franca at an Indian political rally. But at the Mahagathbandhan Rally, it became the fallback language for a large part of the afternoon for obvious reasons. English was the only language that could bring together DMK leader Stalin who had flown in from Chennai for the rally with Farooq Abdullah from Kashmir and Mamata Banerjee herself, who switched constantly from English to Hindi with a smattering of Bengali thrown in. Also speaking in English was former Prime Minister H. D. Devegowda, who made a speech of superlative tediousness. Devegowda is a canny political operator but a speaker he is not. The fact that almost the entire Opposition turned up for the rally is an indication of two things. Firstly, some are terrified of being left in a political wilderness for another five years. But, equally, many of the top Opposition leaders genuinely believe that the BJP government poses a threat to democracy. Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu sounded a dire warning, saying: 'Democracy is under threat. And a hatred campaign is going on.' Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah went much further, evoking the rise of the Nazis in pre-World War II Germany and saying: 'I hope we don't have a situation where Hitler rises and Goebbels rises.' The politicians on the stage in Calcutta represented an extraordinary coalition of parties and political views. From the all-important Uttar Pradesh, came the SP's Akhilesh Yadav. The Bahujan Samaj Party's leader Mayawati didn't come herself but sent her key lieutenant Satish Mishra. From Bihar RJD, there was Lalu Prasad Yadav's son Tejashwi Yadav, who asserted that a mix of investigative agencies were being unleashed against the Opposition as the elections came closer. From the BJP itself, there was former disinvestment minister Arun Shourie and former finance minister Yashwant Sinha. And Shatrughan Sinha made a fiery speech and revived flagging interest after the sleep-inducing Devegowda. These were on top of the AAP's Arvind Kejriwal, Stalin, Farooq, Devegowda, Sharad Pawar, Praful Patel and Naidu. From the Congress, there were Mallikarjun Kharge and Abhishek Singhvi. Rahul Gandhi himself stayed away, reportedly, at the request of the Congress state unit in Bengal which didn't want its leader on the platform at a meeting organised by its arch-rival Mamata. The BJP was clearly stung by the high-profile rally and that was evident when it rolled out a string of spokesmen — from Ravi Shankar Prasad, to minister for minority affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and even the controversial Bihar MP and minister of state Giriraj Singh — to hit back at the Opposition charges against it.

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