Kolkata: Leaders from over a dozen opposition parties came together on Saturday, vowing at a mega rally here to put up a united fight in the coming Lok Sabha elections and oust Prime Minister Narendra Modi from power. Congress’ two top leaders, party president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, skipped the rally but the party was represented by Mallikarjun Kharge and Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

Mallikarjun Kharge, who is leader of the party in the Lok Sabha, read a message from Sonia Gandhi wishing success to the rally.

Here is UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s message for the Kolkata rally:


An envelope of crisis looms from our farmers to our borders.

The youth are jobless, rice and jute farmers are in distress & fishermen are in deep loss.

The country at large is under immense strain . Economically our citizens have been squeezed, Politically our institutions have been undermined and Socially our pluralistic fabric stands vitiated. The upcoming Lok Sabha elections will not be an ordinary one.

This will be an election to restore the nation’s faith in democracy, defend our secular ethos and our heritage and defeat forces that are trying to sabotage the Constitution of India.

This rally marks an important attempt to galvanise leaders across the political spectrum to fight the arrogant and divisive Modi Government

I wish this rally all the success.

H D Deve Gowda (Janata Dal-Secular), Sharad Pawar (Nationalist Congress Party) Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party), Farooq Abdullah (National Conference) and M K Stalin (DMK) were among the top leaders who attended the show of unity organised by Trinamool Congress leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

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