At the INDIA bloc rally at Ramlila Ground in Delhi Sunday, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the SIR of the electoral rolls, the Opposition displayed a bonhomie and unity missing from its previous joint rally at the same venue in 2024.Except Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav, who largely spoke about the political situation of his home state, Uttar Pradesh, leaders of other states stayed focused on their concerns related to Special Intensive Revision and the common slogan of “Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao” (Save Votes, Save the Country).The most notable change came from Trinamool Congress chief and former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who addressed senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi as “My leader Sonia ji”. Banerjee also greeted CPI(M) leader MA Baby and acknowledged the presence of other “Leftist parties” leaders in the state.She called Bengal “a victim of the SIR” and alleged that Bengal was looted in the 2026 Assembly polls. “We will not leave, we will fight. We will save democracy,” Banerjee said and called upon people to “work together to fight the battle and defeat BJP.”Also Read | From packed streets to empty chairs: How Rahul Gandhi’s rally unfoldedIn the 2026 Assembly polls, the TMC had contested without any alliance and faced a defeat that ended its 15-year rule.Akhilesh, the principal opposition and a Congress ally in UP, said the INDIA bloc’s voice is making the BJP realise that their votes are also being deleted. He referred to SP’s win over BJP in Varanasi in recent MLC polls but concluded by saying, “We INDI alliance people are not going to give up…I am happy that INDI bloc people are working together to save the democracy.”The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)’s Tejashwi Yadav said the fight was between “voters and cheaters of the country”. He underlined that SIR started in Bihar and the INDIA bloc was formed in Bihar. “We Biharis are not going to spare them. We will teach them a lesson,” he said.Story continues below this adCongress president Mallikarjun Kharge called all the leaders present on the stage as “fighters.” Kharge said that current BJP-led governments in the Centre, Maharashtra, Bihar, and UP are “chori ke government.”Also Read | INDIA bloc’s Ramlila Maidan rally: Do we need to ‘pay to protest’?Notably, he mentioned UP even though Congress was not an SP ally in the 2022 Assembly elections. However, he did not mention Delhi and West Bengal governments where the BJP wrested power from the AAP and TMC in the past two years.“We will fight together, will remove Modi, save the constitution, strengthen democracy,” Kharge said while concluding his speech.Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, said the protest does not belong to one party or any one leader (pointing a finger at himself). He said it was a collective protest from across the country, and everyone was participating.Story continues below this adAlleging “vote chori in the country”, Gandhi also said Mamata Banerjee cited the examples of Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, and alleged that “vote chori” was done in all these elections.He, too, did not mention Delhi, where the Bharatiya Janata Party wrested power from the Aam Aadmi Party last year.The 2024 rallyINDIA bloc partners had previously met at the same Ramlila Ground on March 31, 2024, ahead of the general elections, with the message that anti-BJP forces need to unite to “save democracy” and that the Constitution would be in danger if the Narendra Modi government were voted back to power.But, in their speeches at the Loktantra Bachao rally, leaders stressed more on the agendas of their respective parties and the states, despite a prior discussion held in the run-up to the event that the event would not be a “person-centric” one.Story continues below this adOpinion | As Opposition gathers at Ramlila Maidan, a question: Is it symbolism without strategy?Kharge and Gandhi, in their speeches, targeted the Modi government for freezing the Congress’s bank accounts and accused the Modi government of trying to fix the election in the BJP’s favour; their Bihar ally Tejashwi claimed that his government with the JD(U) — then in the NDA — Congress, and Left parties had generated five lakh jobs in 17 months.TMC MP Sagarika Ghose had alleged the Centre was trying to “finish the federal structure” and asked why it was not releasing funds meant for the welfare of the poor in West Bengal.Akhilesh Yadav had asserted his idea of “PDA (Pichhda, Dalit and Alpsankhyak)”.Then Jharkhand chief minister Champai Soren defended his predecessor, Hemant Soren, and said the “Yuva Samrat” would never “bow down”. Like Soren, AAP leader and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann had focused on his party chief and Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest, calling him an idea that cannot be imprisoned. In her speech, Kejriwal’s wife, Sunita, targeted PM Modi over her husband’s arrest.Story continues below this adExpress View | Free, fair, foulKharge had then sent out a message to Punjab CM Mann. “Will move together. I expect the Punjab Chief Minister that we will achieve something only when we fight together. Otherwise, we will not move forward if we keep suppressing each other. First, learn to come together and not to break others. This should be our principle).”Given that the event was held at Ramlila Maidan, the Opposition, which had faced flak for skipping the consecration of the Ayodhya Ram Temple in January that year, invoked Lord Ram in several speeches.Hemant Soren’s wife, Kalpana, said everyone needed to understand the “principles of Lord Ram”, who followed “principles … displayed patience and tolerance … and showed respect to vanquished opponents” while fighting a war.Also Read | INDIA rally a ‘flop show’, says Delhi BJPPriyanka Gandhi Vadra recalled that when she was young, she used to visit the Ramlila Maidan with her grandmother Indira on Dussehra. The Congress leader said she wished to tell PM Modi that the “message of Lord Ram’s life” was “satta sadaiv nahi rehti, satta aati hai, jaati hai (power is not permanent. It comes and goes)”.2024 Lok Sabha polls and moreStory continues below this adThe BJP returned to power at the Centre, while INDIA bloc parties clashed over seat-sharing in Parliament and Assembly polls and contested each other in some states.After the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the NDA has won assembly elections in seven states while Congress won only one — Keralam and the National Conference won Jammu and Kashmir.In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, SP-Congress faced turbulence at the beginning when, after claiming to have offered 17 Lok Sabha seats to the Congress in UP, Akhilesh declared its candidate for Varanasi and appointed two leaders as in-charge for Amroha, despite the fact that both Varanasi and Amroha featured in the list of 17 seats offered to the Congress.Also Read | A short history of Ramlila Maidan: From JP’s protest against Indira Gandhi to AAP’s birthYadav missed Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Amethi and said he would join the march only after the SP and the Congress finalise seat-sharing for the Lok Sabha elections. Hours later, the SP unilaterally announced its candidates for 11 more seats, bringing its total nominees to 27 out of the state’s 80 seats.Story continues below this adIn West Bengal, Trinamool decided to contest all 42 Lok Sabha seats after differences with the Congress and the Left parties over seat-sharing. The TMC won 29 seats, while the Congress won just one.Despite several rounds of negotiations, the Opposition Mahagathbandhan parties had “friendly fights” in 11 Assembly seats in Bihar last year. The Congress contested nine such seats, facing off against the RJD in five and the CPI in four.