Now, Rashtra Manch to invite leaders from the Congress to next meet

Leaders from the Congress are on the list of invitees for the next meeting of an opposition forum sometime next month, dedicated to discussing “diverse political thoughts” that will devise “alternatives” to the present political setup. Co-convened by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar and Trinamool Congress vice president, Yashwant Sinha under the broad rubric of Rashtra Manch, the body will not be a formal third front, but initially, only a space to discuss alternative ideas. Retired ambassadors, judges, and activists joined the meeting along with representatives from political parties.

Samajwadi Party leader Ghanshyam Tiwari told Business Standard that a ‘decision’ not to invite the Congress party to the meeting was just a “rumour”. The next meeting will involve all the political parties who could not attend this meeting at short notice. “The forum will be expanded as a space for political parties to discuss everything with an open mind,” he said. Today’s meeting included opposition parties – Trinamul Congress, Samajwadi Party, Aam Aadmi Party, the Rashtriya Lok Dal, and the Left parties – and “the leaders discussed ideas beyond political boundaries,” he said.

Tiwari said all those present said the forum had become necessary because the present government was not addressing the many problems the country faced. “Farmers have been left out in the cold. Unemployment is the biggest challenge, bigger than ever before. Institutions are facing the wrath of the government continuously. The mismanagement of Covid-19 is patently obvious. Amid all this, there is a need to define a vision which is credible and is crafted by people who have worked in Delhi and in social areas,” Tiwari said.

Yashwant Sinha will convene meetings and a small committee will decide issues that the forum will address. “It is not about creating a front or opposing anybody. It is about getting the right kind of dialogue started in the country,” Tiwari said.

Tiwari said there was no contradiction in the Left parties and the TMC sharing a platform. “We see that as an opportunity. There is a need for an open mind among political parties,” he said.  Binoy Viswam from the Communist Party of India (CPI) and Nilotpal Basu from the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) arrived at Pawar’s residence to attend the meeting. “All the leaders were there with the express and official permission of their leadership,” Tewari said. Basu is a member of the CPI(M) politburo. “Everyone sat next to each other and said what they felt. It is an opportunity for people to get past the strict boundaries that political parties have and coordinate to evolve a consensus on some common thinking on issues that are nationally important.”

National Conference (NC) leader and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah, former Congress leader Sanjay Jha, and former Janata Dal (United) leader Pavan Verma also came to participate in the meeting.

The economic issues that were flagged at this meeting and will likely dominate the next are farmers’ problems and lack of jobs. At today’s meeting, former judge, Justice AP Shah spoke on the functioning of institutions and the need to keep democracy vibrant. He referred to a study by professors at Harvard on how democracies die. The ‘eerie silence that exists when communal forces are unleashed in society was also discussed’ said a participant. The farmers’ protest was seen as the protest of independent organizations that were distanced from the organizations to which they belonged. The rise in CPI inflation, petrol prices, and the underlying crisis in the economy was also discussed by Prof Arun Kumar from JNU.

The consensus is that the forum is not about opposing an individual or an agenda but “creating our own agenda and creating credibility for our own agenda,” Tewari said.