2 empty chairs as Sunita, Kalpana share stage at INDIA bloc rally: ‘There is a camera installed where Arvind Kejriwal eats’

The Congress, SP, RJD, AAP, JMM and National Conference sent their top leaders, while the other parties were symbolically represented by second or third rung leaders. Trinamool Congress’s West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, DMK’s Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and NCP leader Sharad Pawar skipped the rally.

Among those present were: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, AAP’s Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh who was recently released on bail, SP leader and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Singh, JMM’s Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren, RJD leader and former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, and Jammu and Kashmir National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah.

Earlier in the day, the Congress said Rahul Gandhi had to skip the rally as he was indisposed. “Rahul Gandhi was all set to campaign today in Satna and Ranchi where the INDIA rally is being held. He took ill suddenly and is unable to leave New Delhi for the present. Congress president Mallikarjun Khargeji is, of course, attending the Ranchi rally after addressing a public gathering in Satna,” said the party’s communication head, Jairam Ramesh.

In his speech, Kharge accused the BJP-led Centre of trying to “terrorise” Soren, and asserted that the JMM leader preferred going to jail rather than parting ways with the INDIA bloc. “Hemant Soren was sent to jail for refusing to part ways with the INDIA bloc. Hemant Soren is a brave person who preferred going to jail rather than bowing down. BJP will be wiped out if it continues to terrorise tribals,” he said.

Soren was arrested by the ED on January 31 in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged land fraud.

Kharge also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that he insulted President Droupadi Murmu and the tribal community by not inviting her to the consecration of the Ram Temple and inauguration of the new Parliament building. “The BJP considers tribals as untouchables,” he alleged.

Sunita Kejriwal said Soren and her husband were jailed although the court had not held them guilty yet. “What kind of investigation is this? This is a dictatorship. Will you tolerate this? What is my husband’s fault? He runs good schools in Delhi, mohalla clinics for the poor… Before getting married to me, he asked me whether I had any problem if his aim was to do social service… This is how a person who wants to do social service is put in jail. As an IRS officer, he used to take leave to work for the poor… Such a person was put in jail,” she said.

Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 in the Delhi excise policy case.

“People said politics is dirty, it indeed is. There is a camera installed where he eats. Such a shame. He has been on insulin for the last 12 years… But they won’t give him insulin in jail, these people want to kill the CM of Delhi,” she said.

She said Kejriwal has promised six guarantees if the INDIA bloc comes to power: “24-hour electricity to all India, free electricity to the poor, government schools in all villages and colonies, mohalla clinics and multi-speciality hospitals in all districts to access free healthcare, implementation of the Swaminathan committee’s recommendations on farmers’ produce, and full statehood for Delhi.”

Reading out a letter from her husband, Kalpana Soren said: “This is the first time after independence that top Opposition leaders, even CMs, are being put in jail on baseless accusations… We will not allow democracy to be looted, the Constitution to be erased, and the country to be broken.”

“Jharkhand’s people are poor, but the state is not poor. The country runs on Jharkhand’s natural resources, but we get hunger, distress, migration, disease and displacement in return. When we ask for our rights, we are sent to jail… In 2025-26, the delimitation issue will arise again… Jharkhandis have been fighting for land, water and forests; our forefathers have given their lives for this… However, the Centre has its eye on scheduled areas, and an example is the Manipur situation today. The state is burning, but the Centre is silent… If the NDA government comes to power, the Adivasis will face a big danger,” Soren said in the letter read by his wife.

RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav said Jharkhand has set the stage to remove the BJP from power in order to protect democracy and the Constitution. He said that instead of talking about Modi, they would focus on issues. “And the issues are education, healthcare, irrigation… I have full faith that we will uproot the fascist BJP government. There are two empty chairs here for Arvind Kejriwal and Hemant Soren. You (people) are the owners, you have to do justice, you have to get justice for them. Modiji did not like the work done by them for the poor. The BJP has three jamais (sons-in-law): ED, IT and CBI,” he said.

Modi promised to eradicate poverty, curb inflation, double farmers’ income, give jobs to 2 crore people, give Rs 15 lakh in everyone’s accounts, but none of these promises were realised, he said.

“However, the BJP got the donations, thousands of crores, through electoral bonds. AAP leader Sanjay Singh was saying that Modiji is a factory of lies; I say that he is not just a factory, he is a manufacturer, wholesaler and distributor too. Modiji lies so much that he makes ‘gobar ko halwa’,” Yadav said.

Ahead of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, the INDIA bloc held its first joint rally in Patna in the first week of March, marking the culmination of Tejashwi Yadav’s 11-day statewide yatra. The second rally was held in Mumbai on March 17, at the end of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. Then on March 31, after Kejriwal’s arrest, the Opposition alliance leaders addressed a massive gathering in Delhi.