New Delhi: The BJP on Monday took a swipe at the opposition INDIA bloc over its meeting, saying those who have been turned “completely inactive” by the people are trying to become active somehow but it will not make any difference.
BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra also accused the INDIA bloc leaders of “hypocrisy” and said those who were attacking and criticising each other till recently are now doing “drama of gathbandhan’s meeting”.
“People are watching everything. No matter how many meetings ‘INDI gathbandhan (alliance)’ holds, they will not yield any result. Such meetings will have no impact,” the BJP MP told reporters at the party headquarters here.
“None of these political parties have any presence on the ground… People have completely rendered them inactive, yet they are somehow trying to become active,” Patra added.
Leaders of the opposition INDIA bloc met here at the Constitution Club on Monday and stressed the need for unity among its constituents to safeguard “democratic values”.
The meeting deliberated on a host of issues and decided to write to the Chief Justice of India on the SIR exercise and “vote loot” besides demanding immediate resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the NEET-CBSE row.
Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said the opposition leaders also demanded that the Union government convene an all-party meeting to discuss the “precarious economic situation” in the country, unemployment, price rise, farmers’ issues and people-centric matters.
Taking a dig at the opposition parties, Patra said, “Earlier, such meetings (of INDIA bloc) used to be held in a stadium. They were seen holding each other’s hands at a stadium in Bangalore. Their meeting has now shifted to a room at the Constitution Club.”
“During elections, (former West Bengal chief minister) Mamata Banerjee said the Congress is losing its credibility. Rahul Gandhi said that the BJP has entered West Bengal due to the bad activities of Banerjee’s party.
“And today, they were sitting together. Sonia Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee were hugging each other as if they were sisters separated at the Kumbh Mela,” the BJP leader said.
Seeking to underscore differences among the INDIA bloc constituents, Patra also cited the DMK’s request for a separate seating arrangement in the Lok Sabha and its leader Udhayanidhi Stalin’s sharp criticism of the Congress over the latter extending its support to the TVK in government formation in Tamil Nadu.
“They share the same drawing room where the meeting is held, but their electoral battlegrounds are distinct. Once they step out of that drawing room, they head to their own separate political arena, where they curse each other,” he said.
Patra claimed that the INDIA bloc meeting neither had any “agenda nor any strategy” except dislodging the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre.
“The INDI alliance meeting had just one agenda of removing (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi,” the BJP leader charged and asked, “Tell me what is important? To save someone or to remove? To take the country forward or belittle someone?”
Patra also slammed Kharge over his remarks on the SIR, calling it the “height of hypocrisy” by the Congress president.
“The SIR was conducted in Tamil Nadu and Kerala also. But you are not cursing it there. You swiftly forged an alliance with another party (TVK), leaving the DMK to form government in Tamil Nadu. And in Kerala, you (Congress) formed government in Kerala,” he added.
In a post on X, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said there is a complete implosion in the INDIA bloc, with disagreements involving the Congress and the DMK, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and the Left parties.
He added that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has also questioned the Congress’ intentions behind forging alliances with regional parties.
“There is no INDI alliance. It is just a figment of one’s imagination. Cosmetic meetings take place, but real conviction on the ground is never seen,” the BJP leader said.
Claiming that the opposition alliance lacks a common purpose, Poonawalla said it has “no mission, no vision, only division”.
“It was always about confusion, ambition and division. Those divisions are now playing out on a daily basis. Even when these parties came together, they did so not out of conviction but for convenience,” he said.
In a video statement, he claimed that regional parties do not have faith in the Congress as it “actually uses and throws them”.
“The DMK has said the Congress is a backstabber and that it does not want to sit with the party. The JMM has a fight with the Congress over the second Rajya Sabha seat in Jharkhand, saying the Congress did not even ask it.
“The RJD, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena and other parties feel that the Congress uses them and then throws them,” he said.
“The INDI alliance is only in papers, headlines and cosmetic actions, and never in reality,” he added.
The BJP spokesperson also pointed to electoral contests among the INDIA bloc allies in states such as West Bengal, Kerala, Punjab, Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan, questioning its unity.
