In a meeting that was attended by many current and former chief ministers, leaders of 15 Opposition parties, on Friday, 23 June, resolved to fight unitedly against the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The meeting, which went on for four hours, was convened by Janata Dal (United) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, NCP president Sharad Pawar, NCP working presidents Supriya Sule and Praful Patel, PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti, JKNC leader Omar Abdullah, and CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury were present at the meeting.
Kumar said that the parties have agreed to fight together in the upcoming elections while the details of what shape the arrangement will exactly take, will be thrashed out in a follow-up meeting next month. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge informed that the meeting will be held in Shimla in early or mid July.
"There was a consensus on fighting elections together. The next meeting will happen in a few days. Mallikarjun Kharge will lead the next meeting. In that meeting, issues like who will contest, where, etc, will be finalised," Kumar said in the press conference after the meeting.
He further launched an attack on the BJP saying, "The ones who are in the government now, they are not working for the welfare of the country. They are changing the history completely; they will make us even forget the fight for independence."
Speaking a few minutes later, Rahul Gandhi echoed Kumar saying, "The institutions and voices of India are being attacked by the BJP-RSS. I said in the meeting that this is a battle of ideologies and we are together against it. There are differences between us but we have decided to work together with flexibility and safeguard our shared ideologies. Opposition unity is a process."
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee spoke about the historic importance of Bihar's capital.
"I had asked Nitishji to hold the meeting in Patna because when things begin in Patna, they take the shape of a people's movement. Many movements in the past have begun in Patna ... We met in Delhi many times but didn't get any fruitful results. We have now started from Patna and we have started well."
She further said that they have resolved three things – that they are united, that they will fight unitedly and that they will oppose BJP's authoritarian, anti-democratic rule no matter what.
"Don't call us Opposition. We are citizens of India, we are patriotic. When Manipur burns, our heart burns too. The dictatorship and atrocities of the BJP cannot be tolerated anymore," she said.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar said that if they have to counter BJP's divisive politics, they will have to fight unitedly. "There is a conspiracy to polarise society. The BJP and its allies are running a programme. If we want to fight it, we will have to be united. We have decided to overlook differences and go ahead together. We are confident that this beginning in Patna today is a beginning of change across India."
Peoples Democratic Party chief and former CM of Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti, said that they won't let Gandhi's India become Godse's India.
"The laboratory for the attack on democracy and the Constitution is in Jammu and Kashmir. It began in J&K and the whole country is facing it. We had joined hands with the India of Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi. We won't let Gandhi's India become Godse's India."
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, whose party was with the BJP for many years before he moved away in 2019 to join hands with the Congress and NCP, said that they need to fight together to save democracy.
"We are from different political parties with different ideologies. There are differences of opinions but the country is one. We have come together to save this country, its unity, and its diversity. Whoever attacks the diversity, we will fight against them. We will unite against any kind of dictatorship," he said.
Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah said that they are fighting a battle of ideologies.
"It does not matter who is not here. Parties from Kashmir to Kanyakumari are here. Our goal is not to grab power. This is a battle of ideologies, of thought processes, safeguarding the identity of India. We have come together to save the country from getting destroyed."
CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury that we have to save the secular and federal structure of the Constitution.
"We are characterised as a secular and democratic republic. The BJP is trying hard to change this fabric of the country. They are trying to change the history. All pillars of the Constitution are under attack. There is an attack on federalism, social justice, secularism and democratic principles. We are uniting so that our votes don't get divided and benefit these polarization forces."
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