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Opposition parties write to PM about blatant misuse of central agencies; Congress is missing from the list
Is the letter, jointly written by some key parties to the Prime Minister, the sign of things to come as the opposition mulls unity ahead of the general elections next year?
In a move that showcases opposition unity, eight key opposition parties jointly wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi complaining about the centre’s “blatant misuse of central agencies”.
However, Congress, which dreams to lead a united opposition but shares a fractured relationship with some key opposition parties, including the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Trinamool Congress (TMC), was conspicuous by its absence. The omission also led to a bigger question: will the fast-waning Grand Old Party be part of the grand alliance of opposition parties?
Meanwhile, in their letter, the opposition parties cited the recent arrest of Delhi Deputy Chief minister Manish Sisodia by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), saying that the country’s democratic values stand threatened under an authoritarian central regime.
The letter appears to be a sign of AAP’s rising influence at the national level, or its national convenor Arvind Kejriwal’s ability to make the opposition stand by him in his hour of trouble, as it predominantly spoke about senior AAP leader Sisodia’s arrest in the now scrapped Delhi Excise Policy case. However, the arrest of some of the other opposition leaders by central agencies also found mention – ostensibly in a bid to balance the matter.
The letter was written by leaders of AAP, TMC, RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal), BRS (Bharat Rashtra Samithi), Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (NC), Shiv Sena (UBT), Samajwadi Party (SP) and NCP (National Congress Party).
Delhi CM Kejriwal hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s “washing machine politics”, saying, “Once the alleged corrupt leaders join the BJP, by betraying their parties, they are absolved of all charges. Look at Himanta Biswa Sarma, he went from being a corrupt Congress leader to an honest BJP CM overnight. Mukul Roy, Narayan Rane and Subendu Adhikari are all in the same boat.”
CM Kejriwal also drew attention to the situation faced by Shiv Sena (UBT). He said that Uddhav Thackeray was the CM and his government was overthrown by the BJP using the ED and CBI. He remarked that several of the MLAs of the MVA government were facing ED and CBI cases, but the moment they switched allegiance to the BJP, they were freed of charges.
CM Kejriwal also hit out at the BJP over the misuse of Governors to harass state governments. “Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin told me that the Governor is sitting on over 20 bills that have been passed by the legislature,” he said.
“In Telangana, CM K Chandrasekhar Rao has gone to the Supreme Court because the Governor of his state is sitting on all his files and refusing to sign them. At the same time, the Governor cancelled the appointments of several vice chancellors appointed by Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar are also hassled because of their Governors.”
Further talking about the Delhi LG, Kejriwal said that the Delhi LG does not believe in the Supreme Court or the Constitution.
The letter mentioned the names of some key opposition leaders: K Chandrashekhar Rao, Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, Bhagwant Mann, Tejaswi Yadav, Farookh Abdullah, Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray and Akhilesh Yadav.
“We hope you would agree that India is still a democratic country. The blatant misuse of central agencies against the members of the opposition appears to suggest that we have transitioned from being a democracy to an autocracy,” the letter mentioned.
The letter further said, “Out of the total number of key politicians booked, arrested, raided or interrogated by the investigation agencies since 2014, the maximum number belongs to the opposition parties. Interestingly, investigation agencies go slow on cases against politicians who join the BJP.”
Alleging a witch hunt of opposition leaders, the letter mentioned, “Since 2014, there has been a marked rise in the number of raids conducted, cases lodged against and arrests of, the opposition leaders. Be it Lalu Prasad Yadav (Rashtriya Janata Dal), Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena), Azam Khan (Samajwadi Party), Nawab Malik, Anil Deshmukh (NCP), or Abhishek Banerjee (TMC), central agencies have often sparked suspicion that they were working as extended wings of the ruling dispensation at the Centre.”
“In many such cases, the timing of the cases lodged or arrests made has coincided with elections, making it abundantly clear that they were politically motivated,” the letter stated.
“The manner in which prominent members of the opposition have been targeted lends credence to the allegation that your government is using investigating agencies to target or eliminate the opposition,” it said.
