Congress president Sonia Gandhi slammed the Centre while claiming that the democratic system is under assault in India. Sonia Gandhi alleged that the central government is misusing institutions to target political opponents and civil society leaders.
In a multi-pronged attack on the Narendra Modi-led central government, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has claimed that democracy is at crossroads with its system under assault in India.
In an opinion piece in Hindustan Times on Monday, Sonia Gandhi said, “That the economy is in deep crisis is clear. But what is less appreciated is that all the pillars of a democratic system of governance are under assault.” She also added, “The fundamental right to freedom of expression has been systematically suspended through suppression and intimidation. Dissent is deliberately stifled as “terrorism” or branded as an “anti-national activity”. Many institutions that are meant to uphold the rights of citizens and society at large have been co-opted or subverted.”
Congress’s Sonia Gandhi said “the Indian State now diverts attention from real problems of the people by pronouncing bogus threats to “national security” everywhere.”
Saying that some of these threats are real and have to be dealt with uncompromisingly, Sonia Gandhi added, “but the Narendra Modi government and the ruling BJP conjure up sinister conspiracies behind every political protest, indeed behind any and everything they see as opposition to them.”
“India’s hard-won democracy is being hollowed out,” Sonia Gandhi wrote.
She also accused the Centre of misusing institutions to target political opponents and civil society leaders.
“Every organ of State that could possibly be used to target political opposition has already been pressed into service.” These agencies now dance only to the tune of the Prime Minister and home minister’s office, Sonia Gandhi wrote.
The Congress chief alleged that BJP leaders used abusive rhetoric and violent imagery to attack what was a Gandhian satyagraha.
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On Uttar Pradesh’s handling of Hathras probe, Sonia Gandhi said, “The Uttar Pradesh government’s vile response to the Hathras protests against the rape of a Dalit girl, the unlawful cremation and the intimidation of her family crying out for justice is in keeping with this intolerant and undemocratic mindset.”
Targeting PM of India , Modi, Sonia Gandhi said, “Citizens do not cease to be citizens when the party they voted for loses an election. The Prime Minister repeatedly claims to represent 130 crore Indians. But his government and the ruling party are treating political opponents, dissenters, and those who did not vote for the ruling party as second-class citizens without democratic rights.”
Sonia Gandhi concluded by saying, “This nation will thrive only when democracy as envisioned by our Constitution and the Independence movement is followed in its letter and spirit.”
