Patna: On the nationwide call of the INDIA bloc, Grand Alliance (GA) parties on Friday paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi on his birth anniversary and pledged to fight for the restoration of democracy in the country. They also demanded the resignation of chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and the annulment of the special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in the country.CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, who led party members in garlanding Mahatma Gandhi’s statue at Gandhi Maidan, appealed to people to participate in protests being held till Oct 6, demanding the restoration of democracy.Bhattacharya condemned the arrests and detention of protesters at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Friday. He also demanded the CEC’s resignation, alleging he was the architect of “vote theft” through the SIR of electors to benefit the BJP and its allies in the elections.RJD’s former minister Alok Kumar Mehta, party general secretary Ranvijay Sahu, former MLA Anwar Alam and others also garlanded Gandhi’s statue. They pledged to fight for the restoration of democracy and hold protest meetings and marches till Oct 6, including at all district headquarters, in compliance with the INDIA bloc’s call.RJD functionaries said their struggle, part of the ‘save democracy campaign’, would continue till the CEC tenders his resignation.The state Congress marked the birth anniversary at its party headquarters by garlanding Gandhi’s bust and portraits of former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri and former state Congress chief Prajapati Mishra.The state CPI organised a seminar on re-making India as imagined by Gandhi, based on pluralism and free from communal hatred. Party functionary Aneesh Ankur and former director of Khuda Baksh Library Imtiaz Ahmad were among those who spoke.
