New Delhi: “Over the past months, we have witnessed the Prime Minister and his government systematically dismantling all three pillars of India’s democracy,” former Congress president Sonia Gandhi wrote in an Op-ed article for The Hindu newspaper Tuesday, asserting that the Congress will make every effort to take its message directly to the people and join hands with all like-minded parties to “defend the Constitution of India and its ideals”.
In the article titled ‘An enforced silence cannot solve India’s problems‘, she hit out at PM Narendra Modi on a range of issues, including the functioning of Parliament, freedom of press and border issues with China.
She claimed that the Modi government was dismantling the legislature, the executive and the judiciary with its actions which demonstrated “a deep-rooted disdain for democracy and democratic accountability”.
While Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha functioned for less than a third of their scheduled session during the budget session, Sonia put the mantle of disrupting “Parliament and preventing the Opposition from raising issues”, on the ruling BJP, calling it a “government-led strategy”. She wrote that the government did not want to discuss issues of unemployment, inflation, social divisions and the alleged “Adani scam”.
The Rae Bareli MP also hit out at the government over “misuse” of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the national security laws against journalists, activists, and “reputed” think tanks.
“The Prime Minister makes grandiose statements about truth and justice even as allegations of financial fraud against the Prime Minister’s chosen businessman are ignored, Interpol withdraws a notice against the fugitive, Mehul Choksi, and the convicted rapists of Bilkis Bano are set free and go on to share a stage with BJP leaders,” she wrote in the article.
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‘Congress understands its solemn duty as principal Opposition party’
Addressing the issue of press freedom Sonia wrote, “The media’s independence has long been compromised by the political intimidation of the government coupled with the financial might of the BJP’s friends, with evening debates on news channels emerging as slanging matches to shout down and silence those who question the government.”
She also hit out at the central government over amended Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, allowing the government to designate news as “fake news”.
“No doubt, an army of lawyers from the BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) stand ready to harass any platform which publishes criticism of the Great Leader. Enforcing silence cannot solve India’s problems,” she said.
The former Congress president alleged that the “Prime Minister ignores the rising tide of hatred and violence, egged on by BJP and RSS leaders” in the country.
About the issue of “Chinese infiltration”, Sonia wrote that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “in denial”, not letting the issue be discussed in the Parliament, while the External Affairs Minister adopts a “defeatist attitude when it comes to China, which is further emboldened in its intransigence.”
Talking about Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra and Opposition unity, Sonia wrote that the Congress will make every effort to take its message directly to the people, as it did in the Bharat Jodo Yatra, and will join hands with all like-minded parties to “defend the Constitution of India and its ideals”.
“The Congress Party understands its solemn duty as the principal Opposition party and stands ready to work with all like-minded parties to fulfill it,” she added.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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