Kolkata/Chandigarh: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) joined the chorus of opposition parties condemning the disqualification of Lok Sabha MP Rahul Gandhi even as it has maintained equidistant with the Congress over leading the electoral fight in 2024.
TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday alleged that Opposition leaders have become “the prime target of the BJP” in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “New India”.
In PM Modi’s New India, Opposition leaders have become the prime target of BJP!
While BJP leaders with criminal antecedents are inducted into the cabinet, Opposition leaders are disqualified for their speeches.
Today, we have witnessed a new low for our constitutional democracy
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) March 24, 2023
Her unexpected support came after Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also tweeted saying that “the country is passing through very difficult times”.
The Trinamool Congress has stayed away from Congress-led opposition meetings or protests in the ongoing Parliament session during the past two weeks.
Last Friday, after a party meeting at Mamata’s residence in Kolkata, TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay has said that the Congress should stop playing big boss. “At this moment, there is no way we will talk to the Congress. There is no question. You can also see this on the floor of the House in Lok Sabha,” he said.
Mamata’s nephew and TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee also came out with a short tweet condemning the action on Rahul.
DEMOCRATIC INDIA is an OXYMORON Now. #ripdemocracy
— Abhishek Banerjee (@abhishekaitc) March 24, 2023
“The political challenge does not end with the hijacking of the membership of Parliament. The biggest movement is not Parliament. We have won by fighting on the street. The person who has claimed defamation should actually do this on those people who betrayed their country and fled abroad, due to which their name and fame have been harmed (sic),” the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister tweeted in Hindi.
KCR
“Modi government is not just misusing investigative agencies (ED, CBI) but is even using a democratic platform like the Parliament to their advantage. Modi’s rule is worse than Emergency, says KCR. This is not the time to think of differences between the parties, but everyone must raise their voice against BJP’s misrule, protect democracy and constitutional rights. It’s a black day in democracy today,” he said in a statement.
Other opposition parties which criticised the disqualification of Rahul include the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Janata Dal (Secular).
Similarly, another unexpected voice of support came from Punjab where the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) questioned the “haste” in which Rahul had been disqualified from the Lok Sabha.
Also Read: ‘If I touch you now…:’ Rahul Gandhi mocks Centre as he helps Kharge down the steps
Uddhav Thackeray & Ajit Pawar
“One can have differences of opinion. Different parties can have different ideologies, but since Independence I don’t remember a single incident when an MP was disqualified like this. Today’s decision is very damaging to our democracy,” NCP leader Ajit Pawar told reporters outside the Maharashtra Assembly.
He also drew a parallel to a similar incident that had occurred with former prime minister Indira Gandhi.
Former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, an ally of the Congress, called it a “murder of democracy”.
“It has become a crime in our country to call a thief a thief. The thieves and those who are looting the country and roaming around freely and Rahul Gandhi was handed out a punishment. This is a straight murder of democracy. All government institutions are under pressure. This is the beginning of the end of dictatorship. We just have to give this fight a direction,” the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief said.
Yechury, Kumaraswamy & SAD’s Cheema
CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury, whose party is a rival to the Congress in Kerala, also extended support to the former Wayanad MP.
It’s condemnable that the BJP is now using the criminal defamation route to target opposition leaders and disqualify them as done with @RahulGandhi now. This comes on top of the gross misuse of ED/CBI against the opposition.
Resist and defeat such authoritarian assaults. pic.twitter.com/zJV8Y6cEs1
— Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) March 24, 2023
Former Karnataka chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who arrived in Kolkata to meet Mamata, said the decision smacked of “political vendetta”
“The present situation and the Central government’s behaviour…Everyone knows for silly reasons, they will act according to their ways. There is nothing surprising. It’s political vendetta,” the JD(S) leader said.
In Chandigarh, SAD spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema called the expulsion “arbitrary” and said Rahul’s disqualification was not in the interest of a healthy democracy and was against the principle of natural justice.
Questioning the haste in which Rahul was disqualified, Cheema said “it is not right to disqualify a member within 24 hours of a court decision especially when the appeal against the decision is in process”.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: ‘Will go to jail to save democracy:’ Kharge after Rahul Gandhi disqualified from Lok Sabha