Opposition casts 'rainbow' in Kolkata to take on BJP in 2019 elections

Major leaders asked the people to view the coming election as 'India's second war of independence'

Marking a show of India’s biggest ever Opposition unity in the recent past, 23 dominant regional parties including the Congress, sans Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, converged in Kolkata on Saturday, at Mamata Banerjee’s behest, in the historic Brigade Parade Ground. The sole objective was to oust the incumbent Modi government in the forthcoming general elections this year.

Leaders like H D Deve Gowda, former prime minister and leader of Janata Dal Secular; Sharad Pawar, former chief minister of Maharashtra and president of the Nationalist Congress Party; Arvind Kejriwal, chief minister of Delhi and leader of the Aam Aadmi Party; H