Published 18:50 IST, January 13th 2020
Silent on 'all-Opposition' meet flop show, Sonia Gandhi launches attack on Modi-Shah
Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi addressed a meeting of the opposition parties and slammed PM Narendra Modi and HM Amit Shah for misguiding people
- India News
- 4 min read
Multiple opposition parties gathered at the national capital for a meeting on Monday. The official Twitter handle of the Congress party also shared a picture of the leaders that had come together for the meeting called by the Congress. NCP leader Praful Patel, Communist Party of India leader D Raja, Rajul Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi were among several other leaders of political parties who attended the meeting.
The meeting, however, turned out to be a 'flop show' as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier announced that she would boycott the January 13 opposition meeting, other party leaders like MK Stalin, Mayawati, Arvind Kejriwal also skipped the meet.
Post the meeting, Congress Party's interim President Sonia Gandhi released a statement where she accused the Prime Minister and Home Minister of misguiding the citizens and also stated that the instruments of governance are being misused.
"The government has let loose a reign of oppression, spreading hatred and trying to divide our people along sectarian lines. There's unprecedented turmoil. The constitution is being undermined and the instruments of governance being misused," Sonia Gandhi said.
In her statement, she also widely spoke about how students and the youth is being targeted and how CAA and NRC is the immediate cause of the protest and frustration among the youth.
Calling the attack on the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus a 'BJP-orchestrated assault,' Sonia Gandhi said, "The entire nation watched in horror at the BJP-orchestrated assault on JNU coming so soon after what happened in Jamia, BHU, Allahabad University & AMU and other institutions of higher learning."
Sonia Gandhi targets PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah
Slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, Sonia Gandhi blamed them for misleading the people and for contradicting their own statement.
"They've contradicted their own statements of only weeks ago, and continue with their provocative statements while remaining insensitive to the state suppression and violence that is increasingly becoming commonplace," Sonia's statement read.
"The Modi-Shah government stands exposed for its inability to govern and provide security to people," the statement added.
'Flop show Opposition Meeting' as AAP, BSP & Trinamool skip meeting
Earlier in the day, AAP's Sanjay Singh had informed that AAP was not aware of the meeting, and thus, will not be attending the meeting. BSP Supremo Mayawati has blamed the Congress of dividing the BSP in Rajasthan despite its outside support to the Congress government and hence skipped the meeting. On the other hand, Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee stated that she will be boycotting the Opposition meeting due to the vandalism caused by 'Congress and Left leaders' during anti-CAA protests. Both have stated that they are still against the CAA.There was also confusion over whether Shiv Sena, which is in alliance with the Congress in Maharashtra, would attend the meeting as varying reports came through the day. Later, sources in Uddhav Thackeray's party said they had not received a formal invite for the meeting and hence could not attend.
Opposition meeting on CAA
The Congress party which had called the Opposition meeting in the Parliament at 2 PM on Monday, held the new year's first Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting to discuss the Opposition meet on CAA on Saturday. The Opposition meeting has been called to give shape to the Opposition's strategy in the wake of widespread student protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR), which several parties have vocally opposed and supported student protests against it.
Updated 18:50 IST, January 13th 2020