The United India Rally, organised by the Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress (TMC,) witnessed the participation of 15 opposition parties against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP.)
Political leaders from across India gathered for the rally at the Brigade Parade Ground, Kolkata and criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Government.
N. Chandrababu Naidu, the Chief Minister (CM) of Andhra Pradesh, said, “The prime minister is a publicity PM, but what we want is a performing prime minister.” Adding to the criticism, Akhilesh Yadav, the Samajwadi Party (SP) Chief, said, “Today, I tell them that the face will be one chosen by the people. You have many groups in your alliance too, and that includes the CBI and the ED, but we have allied with the people.”
The representative of the Congress party, Mallikarjun Kharge, a senior leader of the Party, also took a dig at the promise made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi about generating 2 crore jobs every year. With this regard, Mr. Kharge said, Mr. Modi only had the intention of “destroying whatever employment remained.” Kharge further added, “Modi said na khaunga, na khane doonga (won’t eat, won’t let you eat either), but he’s giving to corporates. To save secular values, we need to stand united. We need to walk together.”
Other Leaders such as M.K. Stalin of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK,) Arvind Kejriwal, the Aam Aadmi Party leader and the CM of Delhi, and Shatrughan Sinha, a BJP rebel, were also present at the rally.
The Brigade Parade Ground, which was the venue of the rally, witnessed a huge crowd of approximately 40 lakh people. Tight security was arranged to conduct the rally peacefully.
The rally is said to be a major move against the BJP ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The major parties contesting the Lok Sabha elections are the Congress Party and the BJP.
