Bharat Jodo Abhiyaan [BJA] was born as an extraordinary initiative of the citizens of India at an extraordinary moment of our national life. On 6 February 2023, immediately after the successful completion of the historic Bharat Jodo Yatra, we had gathered at the Constitution Club in Delhi to embark upon a seven year long mission by launching a movement “that can reclaim our republic, renew our Constitutional values, rescue our democratic institutions and rekindle the spirit of our freedom struggle”. In the last year and a half, the Bharat Jodo Abhiyaan has played a historic role in bringing together various movements, organisations, groups and individuals in this collective endeavour that has resulted in the extraordinary outcome of the historic Lok Sabha election of 2024.
We meet today at the historic Sevagram (Wardha) to renew our collective resolve and to resume our journey. The BJA originated as a response to a danger, an unprecedented assault on the idea of India, a brick by brick dismantling of our republic as a result of a full-scale war on our constitutional values and democratic institutions launched by the BJP-RSS regime since 2014. The founding conference of the BJA had outlined the challenge in no uncertain terms:
“We have seen brute majoritarian takeover of democratic apparatus, subversion of institutions, suppression of free media, choking of freedom of expression, criminalization of dissent, breakdown of rule of law and use of state and street power to crush political opponents.
We have seen rolling back of the secular state, de facto demotion of religious minorities to a second grade citizenship, state sponsored campaigns of hatred and bigotry against them, retreat from affirmative action and sanction of caste-based oppression and exclusion, and blatant endorsement of patriarchal norms and practices.
We have seen ordinary people facing the brunt of economic recession, unemployment and inflation, while the present regime is busy favouring its bloated cronies, defending their financial frauds and selling the family silver. Diversion, distraction and division are the favourite political tactics of this regime.
We have seen the rise of a diabolic propaganda machine, led by mainstream media that has turned into a megaphone for the government, to cover up the current regime’s criminal indifference to handling the Covid pandemic, professional incompetence in managing the economy and dereliction of the national duty to safeguard the country’s borders…
This is the moment to unite the people of India in defence of our constitution. This is the moment to fuse the energies of all parties that stand with the constitution with that of people’s movements, civil society institutions and social activists. This is the moment to mobilize the public to reclaim our republic.”
Drawing its strength from the Bharat Jodo Yatra as well as the various movements for resistance, the BJA had accepted a double responsibility: defeating the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections of 2024 and launching the long-term ideological, cultural and political struggle for re-enchanting our constitutional values. Accordingly, the BJA had taken on the responsibility of engaging with political parties that were committed to defending the republic. After the formation of INDIA coalition, the BJA had declared its support to this coalition as the only effective and viable alternative to the BJP and its allies. At the same time the BJA had also committed itself to long-term action by way of articulating a vision of India for our times in line with the Constitutional vision, amplifying this vision through mainstream and alternative media, creating a community of believers in the constitutional idea of India by recruiting and training a battery of volunteers to shape public opinion on the ground and supporting movements and campaigns of resistance.
In the last year and a half, the BJA has thrown itself fully into this mission. The General Secretary’s Report of Activities spells out all the work that the BJA and its associates have done in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections 2024. Beginning with the Karnataka assembly elections, the BJA has worked tirelessly to bring citizens, movement groups, civil society institutions, activists, and social media activists to join hands with INDIA coalition parties. Besides influencing the electoral outcome, the BJA and its associates helped to foreground peoples’ issues, expose the lies of Modi regime and democratise the process of elections. Never before had any non-party initiative done so much to inform, educate and mobilise citizens in defence of our constitutional democracy as has been done by the Bharat Jodo Abhiyaan and other civil society organisations in the run up to and during the recent parliamentary election.
The Lok Saha election of 2024 was no ordinary election. This was more like a plebiscite through which Narendra Modi sought post-facto approval for his authoritarian deeds and a popular mandate for the proposed mutilation of the Constitution. The regime had ensured that everything was stacked against its opponents, so as to make the elections a mere formality. The BJP had virtually infinite resources, both white and black at its disposal, while the Opposition was denied access to its own bank accounts. All the investigative and official agencies— the ED, the CBI, Income Tax, police and administration — was deployed to hound the Opposition, with the judiciary a mute spectator. The mainstream media turned into a megaphone for the ruling party, actively promoting the myth of “400 paar” and running down the Opposition parties. Sadly, the institution of the
Election Commission of India was also compromised, as it presided over blatant communal hatred-mongering by Modi and other BJP leaders. This was undoubtedly the most unfair national election in the history of independent India. Yet, the people of India refused to grant the stamp of approval that this regime so badly needed. In the backdrop of all the systemic manipulations and the relentless propaganda of 400-paar, the ruling party’s final tally of 240 is undoubtedly a moral and political defeat for the BJP and a personal defeat for Narendra Modi. He may have cobbled together a majority with the help of NDA partners,
but the third Modi government does not enjoy a popular mandate. Had the election been a shade fairer, and if the media and pollsters had not misled the country into believing the inevitability of a Modi victory, there was no way NDA could have secured even the bare majority that it did.
This convention salutes peoples movements, especially the historic farmers’ morcha and the resistance against Citizenship Amendment Act that paved the way for democratic resistance against this authoritarian regime. We also recall the various struggles and protests, including the nationwide protest against dilution of SC/ST atrocities act, land acquisition and corporate takeover of forests, paper leaks and irregularities in public sector recruitments and the protest by women wrestlers for keeping alive the flame of democracy through these dark times. While mainstream media, with some honourable exceptions, acted as the lapdog of the regime, the contribution of alternative media, including social media and YouTubers, deserves a special mention. Above all, we must salute the wisdom of ordinary citizens of India, especially the poor, the disadvantaged and the minorities who saw through the games of the ruling dispensation and refused to be hoodwinked by the divisive games of the BJP and the RSS.
The stunning outcome of this election has opened a window of democratic opportunity. The INDIA coalition may not have secured a majority, but the Opposition has regained its self-confidence and its voice, as seen in the first session of the new Lok Sabha. Democratic institutions may not have changed overnight, but democratic checks and balances are beginning to be visible, opening the space for democratic resistance. The people have refused to fall prey to the divisive agenda unleashed after the consecration of the Ayodhya temple. The designs for mutilation of the Constitution has been foiled. This is undoubtedly a victory of the people, of democracy and of the Constitution of India.
While the onward march of Modi’s authoritarianism has been halted, the BJP’s stranglehold overpower has not been reversed. The BJP has expanded its reach in the southern and eastern coastal belt. Its electoral dominance remains unchallenged in states like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand. It still remains the largest single party and continues to dominate North and West of India. While people refused to vote on the Ram temple, the communal poison and majoritarian mind-set is very much around. Above all, the BJP again controls state power, that it continues to use to consolidate its authoritarian and communal designs. The danger that the BJA was formed to combat is far from over.
Developments since the formation of the third Modi government serve to remind us of the dangers that lie ahead. The last one month has witnessed renewed incidents of lynching of Muslims, repeated use of bulldozers as a form of community punishment mostly against Muslims and brazen anti-Muslim hate speech in public. It is a matter of deep concern that some of these incidents have taken place in opposition ruled states as well. The implementation of the three foundational criminal codes that were rushed in without proper parliamentary deliberations, threatens to open floodgates of a police state. The ‘Public Security Bill’ recently introduced in the Maharashtra assembly supposedly to curb ‘urban naxals’ demonstrates evil designs of the current regime to suppress all dissent and protest. The central government has resumed its assault against human rights activists and dissenters like Arundhati Roy, Dr Shoeb Shaukat and Medha Patkar. The government’s and the speakers’ conduct during the parliament session and its refusal to hold a discussion over the NEET scandal shows that it is unwilling to follow the protocols of parliamentary democracy. Its continued silence on the raging civil war in Manipur demonstrates scant regard for human lives and national unity. If anything, the current regime may turn even more repressive so as to regain its waning control over power. The Presidential address confirms that this government has learnt nothing from the people’s rebuke. By all accounts, the wounded predator is even more dangerous than before.
The current historical juncture presents the BJA with both a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge is to ward off the danger of authoritarianism and majoritarianism that still looms large on the horizon. The opportunity is to push national politics in a pro-people direction, towards social justice, economic equality and ecologically sustainable policies. The challenge and the opportunity are intertwined. It is only by creating a coalition of the bottom of the social pyramid, that the authoritarian and majoritarian politics can be effectively reversed. Thus the task for any patriotic and democratic Indian is cut out. We must defend constitutional values and democratic institutions, by forging and consolidating a social coalition of the marginalised classes and communities— women, farmers, workers, dalit, adivasi, OBC, minorities and all other marginalised people.
The BJA was envisioned as a seven-year mission till the 30th January 2030. The first leg of this journey has given us greater confidence, and taught us many valuable lessons. We have a long way to go in realising our mission. Now that we have a foothold, we must plan the second leg of this journey to encompass the larger ideological political challenge as well. Accordingly, while we continue to address the immediate challenge of combating the BJP in coordination with major opposition parties in the forthcoming assembly elections, this is the time to focus on non-electoral tasks of strengthening movements of resistance and cultural-ideological battle for reclaiming our republic.
Specifically, this convention of the BJA resolves to take our work forward in multiple directions:
- We shall focus on supporting INDIA candidates in the forthcoming state assembly elections in Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand and Maharashtra, so as to ensure electoral decline and fall of the BJP and its allies, while continuing to press for truly free and fair elections;
- We shall mobilise and train volunteers all over the country so as to create a cadre of citizens committed to the defence of the Constitution;
- We shall work with the various protests and peoples movements, civil society organisations and the like minded political parties so as to strengthen democratic resistance; and
- We shall make effective use of media and social media to combat the propaganda of this regime and strengthen communication channels to spread the ideology of the Constitution of India.
This Convention authorises the newly elected team of office bearers to frame a programme of action in this light and constitute organisational teams at various levels as per the Rules of the BJA.
The Preamble to the Constitution of India, read with Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles of State Policy, continues to be our guiding light in this battle. The founding convention had specified our ideological non-negotiables as follows:
“1. A secular state that has no official religion and that offers equal respect to and maintains principled distance from all religions;
- Social justice via state policies to recognize, monitor and neutralize caste and gender based inequalities and oppressions;
- Participatory, transparent and decentralized democracy that ensures freedom of expression and values independent functioning of all democratic institutions;
- A welfare state that puts people before profit, places wellbeing of the last person first and rejects unthinking privatization and crony capitalism;
- Policies that recognize peoples’ right to natural resources and our responsibility to promote climate resilience by balancing the interests of environment and economy;
- Positive nationalism, that focuses on achieving national unity, promotes dialogue with our own citizens in conflict zones and seeks peace with external neighbours; and
- Pride in our cultural and civilizational heritage in its glorious multiplicity that entails a responsibility to filter out caste, gender or any other oppression in its name”.
Today at the historic Sewagram, as we remember the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi, we reiterate our commitment to these principles drawn from our freedom struggle and embedded into Babasaheb’s Constitution. We are here to say: The spirit of India shall triumph. Our civilizational heritage of co-living shall triumph. The legacy of our freedom struggle and that of various peoples’ struggles in independent India shall triumph. We take a pledge to resume our journey to redeem the Constitutional pledge of securing for all our citizens “social, economic and political justice, liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; equality of status and of opportunity; and fraternity”.
We call upon all those citizens, groups, organisations and parties who stand by the foundational values of our republic to come forward and join this national mission to reclaim our republic.
Jai Hind!
