INDIA bloc parties marching separately but striking together
Tuesday evening saw unusual coordination among the INDIA bloc parties, which have often appeared disjointed. The parties put into practice the Trotskyist principle of “March
Tuesday evening saw unusual coordination among the INDIA bloc parties, which have often appeared disjointed. The parties put into practice the Trotskyist principle of “March separately, strike together!” a line that late CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury often used to repeat when talking about opposition unity. At the INDIA bloc meeting on Tuesday (July 21, 2026) morning, there was a consensus on the need to engage with the agitation that began as a protest against the spate of paper leaks. There was also consensus that this expression of support towards the agitating students had to go beyond the Parliamentary premises. The opposition claims that 152 competitive examinations in the last 12 years have been leaked. But no decision could be taken on the mode or method. Several options were discussed — including a march to Rashtrapati Bhavan — and rejected.
At Parliament, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, after meeting Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, whom he had gone to meet demanding a debate on the students’ agitation, emerged to speak to reporters. Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav stood some distance away on the steps of Makar Dwar, the main entrance of the Parliament House, waiting for Mr. Gandhi to finish his speech. The thrust of both their messages was identical — the government’s failure to acknowledge the problems plaguing the education system. While Mr. Gandhi, along with other leaders, visited Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital to speak to the injured students, the CPI(M) and CPI parliamentarians visited Jantar Mantar, the epicentre of the protests. At around 3:00 p.m., Congress parliamentarians marched down to the Prime Minister’s doorstep. Many of them heard about the march only minutes earlier at Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence, where they believed they had been called to mark his 84th birthday.
The Congress did not invite the other Opposition leaders to the march, just yet. As the crowds swelled at the protest site, the Congress placed calls to other parties. Not all turned up. According to sources, Akhilesh Yadav murmured his disappointment that he had not been informed earlier, but shrugged off that “small inconvenience”, as he described it, and unhesitatingly left for the protest along with Lok Sabha MP Dharmendra Yadav. He was detained along with Mr. Gandhi. The distance between the two at Parliament’s doorstep covered in New Delhi. NCP (SP)’s Supriya Sule reached at the Congress protest, while her father, Sharad Pawar, visited the students at Jantar Mantar. Ms. Sule’s presence was particularly significant, considering the several speculations about another possible split in the party to bolster the government’s numbers in the Lok Sabha and help it reach the two-thirds majority mark.
The BriefWire