The INDIA bloc resurfaced on Saturday in a bid to put up a united front in the monsoon session of Parliament beginning Monday, determined to pin the government down on the Pahalgam terror attack and the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar.
Leaders of 24 parties belonging to the INDIA bloc, including the Trinamool Congress, met virtually on Saturday to chalk out the floor strategy for the session and identify key issues to be raised unitedly. Leading the pack of eight issues is the Pahalgam terror attack and the failure of the government to arrest a single perpetrator.
Briefing the media in between the meeting, the Congress's Rajya Sabha member Pramod Tewari said the Opposition would also demand answers from the government on US President Donald Trump's repeated claims — 24 on last count — of having mediated a truce between India and Pakistan. "Since the US President is saying this, it is only proper that the Prime Minister attend the discussion and also reply on this issue," Tewari said.
Another thorn in the side of the Opposition is the special intensive revision (SIR), which they feel is an attempt to remove voters from the electoral rolls in the name of inadequate documentation. "After notebandi, now there is votebandi," Tewari said, playing on the Hindi word for demonetisation. "In the era of undeclared Emergency, voting rights have come under threat."
Though the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor are foreign policy issues, the INDIA bloc wants a separate discussion on foreign affairs, given the evolving situation in India's neighbourhood and West Asia as many of the Opposition parties are upset with India’s position on Gaza.
Some southern parties are concerned about delimitation and the INDIA bloc has decided to raise this issue as well. Atrocities against women and minorities and the Air India crash are likely to be flagged.