Must welcome the pledge of unity of opposition parties: Chidambaram

A day after several opposition leaders met and announced they would organise joint protests across the country from September 20-30, senior Congress leader Chidambaram said that those who prize freedom above every other right must welcome the pledge of unity of the opposition parties. He further urged people to save India for a better tomorrow.

Leaders of 19 political parties, supported by the Samajwadi Party, met virtually on Friday and stressed moving forward together against the BJP government in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. They also put out an 11-point charter of demands before the government.

"Bhakts and trolls will ridicule the show of unity, but they should remember the famous words of the German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemoller. Cynics will scoff at the effort, but they will realise one day that we are fighting for the liberty of all people, including the cynics," the former Union minister tweeted.

Congress party interim chief Sonia Gandhi on Friday gave the call for opposition leaders to rise above political compulsions to take on the BJP in the interest of the nation. She urged for a start in systematic planning to realise the ultimate goal of winning the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and forming a government that believes in the values of freedom and provisions of the Constitution.

The meeting included senior leaders, including NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and four non-Congress chief ministers -- TMC's Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), DMK's MK Stalin (Tamil Nadu), Shiv Sena's Uddhav Thackeray (Maharashtra) and JMM's Hemant Soren (Jharkhand). The Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who did not attend, wrote a letter to the Congress President expressing his inability to join the meeting.