INDIA shine at Mumbai rally sets the stage for showdown with NDA, but all eyes on what next

Twenty-four hours after the Lok Sabha election schedule was announced, Mumbai became the site of the battleground between INDIA versus the NDA as Rahul Gandhi wrapped up his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.

The Congress leader’s final day was dotted with symbolism, starting from Mani Bhavan, Mahatma Gandhi’s long-time headquarters in then Bombay, and ending at Chaitya Bhoomi, the cremation site of Dr B R Ambedkar. Rahul skipped the Vinayak Damodar Memorial opposite Chaitya Bhoomi, but visited the Bal Thackeray Memorial next door after the BJP tried to put Rahul ally Uddhav Thackeray in a spot over it.

While the BJP seized on Rahul’s decision to not visit the Savarkar memorial to attack Congress ally Shiv Sena (UBT), questioning his commitment to Hindutva, the day belonged to INDIA for once, with its partners rallying around the coalition that has been sputtering its way to takeoff. It will also go some distance towards countering the impression that the Congress kept INDIA allies out of Rahul’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.

Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray was a prominent presence at the dais with Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, apart from other senior Congress leaders, at Sunday evening’s rally held at Shivaji Park – a ground that holds much significance for the Shiv Sena – to mark the formal conclusion of the Yatra.

Also present was the other main Congress ally in the state, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), as well as its INDIA partners DMK, National Conference, Aam Aadmi Party and RJD. Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav sent a letter expressing his support.

In speech after speech, the INDIA partners resolved to evolve a common minimum programme to fight the Narendra Modi-led BJP, accusing it of “dictatorship”, “communalism” and