Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Monday called for Opposition unity against the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. He also slammed the ruling BJP for removing the 4% OBC reservation for Muslims in Karnataka just about two months before the assembly polls.
Speaking at the All India Federation for Social Justice conference organised by the DMK, Stalin said: "However idealistic an ideology may be, for it to succeed, unity among parties is important. Unity among just a few states is not enough. There must be unity among all states in India." "It is for that unity, a federation like this will serve as a foundation. Let us fight together," Stalin was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Stalin highlighted the importance of collective efforts to ensure social justice, federalism, brotherhood, and equality. Stalin further lashed out at the BJP-led Centre for implementing the 10% EWS quota and questioned the logic behind economic status being a criterion to extend the welfare measure.
Several other opposition leaders, including Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, spoke at the conference, expressing their concerns over "oppression of backward classes". They called for a caste census and social security for all. Yadav, who strongly advocated for the caste census, cited the ongoing survey in Bihar, which has been initiated by the Mahagathbandhan government.
Yadav voiced his worry over the governors of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand impeding their governments' efforts to extend reservations to OBCs. Gehlot, in his address, urged the chief ministers of Opposition-led states to put pressure on the Centre to push for a caste-based census. He said it is necessary for social justice. Senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily also expressed his support for the movement for social justice.
Samajwadi Party president and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said: "Everyone has the right to equal opportunities and to live with dignity. It is necessary that we come together to fight for social justice."
The Opposition's rare show of unity came at a time when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been disqualified from Lok Sabha after being convicted in a 2019 defamation case. Despite being a political platform, the leaders urged the participating parties not to shy away from accepting it. They emphasised that unity must be across all states and not just limited to a few states to ensure success. They also called for the boycott of census, if it is not a caste census.
Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien called on Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik to join the efforts to take on the current government, while CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said that the current government had become a government of "na kuch karunga na karne dunga (will neither do any work nor let others do it)", a play on PM Narendra Modi's slogan of "na khaunga, na khane dunga (neither will I be corrupt, nor will I allow corruption)". Yechury said that concrete steps must be taken now to ensure the backward classes' representation in the future.
The Opposition leaders alleged that the BJP's ideological mentor, RSS, wants the 'varna system' to continue. They stressed the need for a caste census to address social inequality and ensure the backward classes' welfare. The leaders called for like-minded parties to come forward and push for the caste-based census.
Leaders from DMK, Congress, JMM, RJD, TMC, AAP, CPI, CPI(M), Samajwadi Party, National Conference, NCP, IUML, Bharat Rashtra Samithi, MDMK, Rashtriya Samaj Paksh, Loktantra Suraksha Party, VCK, Manithaneya Makkal Katchi, Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi and Dravidar Kazhagam.
(With PTI inputs.)