INDIA bloc to hold nationwide protest on Dec 22: Mallikarjun Kharge

NEW DELHI: After the conclusion of the fourth INDIA alliance meeting on Tuesday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said a nationwide protest will be held on December 22 against the suspension of 141 MPs following a ruckus over the demand by the Opposition for a statement from Union Minister Amit Shah on the Parliament security breach incident.

"We have taken several decisions, one is on the suspended MPs. We will fight against this; this is wrong...We have united to fight against this. We have decided to hold a all-India protest against the suspension of MPs on December 22," Kharge said on Tuesday.

He further said that 28 parties participated in our fourth meeting and kept their thoughts before the committee of the alliance. "We have passed a resolution that suspension is undemocratic. We will all have to fight to save democracy and all of us are ready to do that. We raised the issue of security breach in the Parliament.

We have been saying for a long time that Union HM Amit Shah or PM Modi should come to the Parliament and speak in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha about the issue of Parliament security breach, but they are refusing to do so," he added. The fourth meeting of the 'Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc took place in the national capital.

The meeting comes amid the political tensions escalating between the Opposition and the BJP-led central government over the demand of Union Home Minister Amit Shah's statement over the Parliament security breach.

An unprecedented number of MPs, a total of 141, were suspended from Parliament. The alliance, led by the Congress, took shape with the primary objective of mounting a combined challenge to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in next year's general elections. The first meeting of the joint opposition convened in Patna on June 23 and the second meeting was held in Bengaluru on July 17-18. The third meeting happened in Mumbai on August 31-September 1.

INDIA or 'Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance' is a group of opposition parties, including the Congress. The parties have come together to take on the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and prevent it from winning a third straight term at the Centre in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

In the Mumbai meeting, the opposition parties adopted resolutions to collectively contest the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections while announcing that seat-sharing arrangements would be finalized as soon as possible through a spirit of give-and-take.

The theme chosen by the INDIA bloc for the elections is "Judega Bharat, Jeetega India" (India will unite, India will win) to take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government.