Loud chants and songs on justice echoed around Shivaji Park in India’s financial capital, Mumbai, as thousands of people gathered at the iconic venue that had played frequent host to rallies by freedom fighters when the country fought for independence from the British decades ago.
This time, the slogans called for a different “freedom” – from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party government. On stage, Bollywood singers Vishal and Rekha Bhardwaj sang classic songs from popular films, new and old. The park was decked in flags and life-sized cardboard cutouts of politicians from the opposition Indian National Congress (INC) party. Police officers were everywhere, but the atmosphere was festive – almost resembling that of a rock concert.
The man at the center of the event: Rahul Gandhi, scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family that ruled India for most of its first 50 years after independence.
On Sunday evening, Gandhi and a bevy of leaders from other opposition parties launched the election campaign of their Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) from Shivaji Park, a day after the Election Commission of India announced dates for the world’s largest vote. Nearly a billion Indians will elect their next government in a seven-phase election that starts on April 19 and ends with the declaration of results on June 4.
The INDIA alliance hopes to challenge Modi’s BJP, which is aiming to win a third straight term in office, riding on the back of the prime minister’s personal popularity, even as the Congress and other critics have accused it of dividing the nation on religious lines and favoring select industrialists.
At the heart of the opposition alliance’s efforts are long marches undertaken by Gandhi across the length and breadth of the country, to galvanize support against Modi. His Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra (Uniting India for Justice March) had culminated in Mumbai on Saturday.
The marches and Gandhi’s message of unity and justice resonated with supporters at Shivaji Park on Sunday.
Ganggu Bai, a 40-year-old cook who lives in Mumbai’s Dharavi – one of the world’s largest slum clusters made famous globally by the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire – was among those at the Sunday rally.
“I am here to support the future of our country and women’s rights,” she said. “This event gives me hope and feels like it is actually for the people of India,” she added.
But for Gandhi, the Congress, and the INDIA alliance to turn that sentiment into a national wave against the ruling government, they’ll need the votes of more than their core supporters: In the last national elections in 2019, the Congress won just 52 seats in the Lok Sabha or lower house of parliament, while the BJP won an overwhelming majority with 303 seats.