On Tuesday, a month after talks first began on putting up a united fight against the BJP, the multi-party front coined a name for itself - the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, or INDIA.
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A day after the meetings of 26 Opposition parties in Bengaluru, and 38 NDA allies in Delhi coincided, leaders across party lines reacted to the friction between the two political camps, the name of the Opposition front, and speculations of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar’s discontent with the name of the alliance.
On Tuesday, a month after talks first began on putting up a united fight against the BJP, the multi-party alliance coined a name for itself – the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, or INDIA. PM Modi decried the Opposition alliance and positioned NDA as a “coalition of contributions and strength”. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed that British had named the country ‘India’ and the fight should be to free the nation from ‘colonial legacies’.
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AAP, Shiv Sena (UBT), and non-aligned leaders from BSP and Akali Dal also chimed in on the political developments on Wednesday. Here is all that was said.
Sanjay Raut, Uddhav Thackeray faction leader, said, “Supporters of Narendra Modi used to say PM Modi is India but he is not India. Every citizen of the country is India. There should not be any conflict over the name ‘INDIA’.”
JDU party president Lalan Singh rubbished speculations of Nitish Kumar’s discontent and said, “Nitish Kumar is the one who brought the opposition together and a person who has brought everyone together can never be angry. I was part of NDA for five years and to date PM Modi never called a meeting with NDA. Now why did he call for the meeting?”
Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala supported Lalan Singh’s assertion by saying, “We (opposition parties) all are united. The BJP can try as much as they want to divide I.N.D.I.A, but they won’t succeed.”
AAP MP Raghav Chadha also hit back at the BJP-led government and said, “Central government failed on every front. No meeting of NDA was called in the last 9 years but they called it yesterday. BJP used to say ‘Ek akela sab par bhaari’ but they are not saying this now. Now this election has become NDA vs INDIA and INDIA will win. It is a good name-INDIA. It doesn’t matter as to who proposed it.”
Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said, “The BJP itself has rolled out so many schemes like Make In India, Shining India, and more. They are creating unnecessary controversy around the name INDIA. We have not even started to work together and now only it has created so much fear in the mind of the BJP.”
Meanwhile, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, who was absent from both the meetings said, “The Congress party is forming an alliance with like-minded casteist and capitalist parties to come into power.” She added, “These parties don’t work for the welfare of the people. They have not done anything for Dalits, Muslims, and minorities. All are the same. When they come to power, they forget their promises. They have not fulfilled a single promise made to be the people. Be it Congress or be it BJP. This is the biggest reason why BSP has not joined hands with the opposition.”
On Monday, Akali leader and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia, in a written statement had said, “I have always said that AAP and Congress are like a hydra-headed snake joined at the hip. They have just revealed their true fangs. The two parties are like a forked tongue sticking out of a single poisonous jaw. The official Opposition in Punjab is dead. It is no longer Opposition; it is all official now. The Congress is now officially a faction of the ruling party.”
“They (BJP-led central government) have pushed the country into darkness. That’s why the foundation of grand alliance was laid,” said RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav.
