West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, in a letter to several non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, accused it of trying to establish a “one-party authoritarian rule” in India, calling for a plan of action to be formulated against the BJP after the conclusion of the ongoing assembly elections.
Mamata wrote to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, DMK chief MK Stalin, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, NC chief Farooq Abdullah and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti.
In her letter, Mamata listed seven points to highlight how the BJP has been allegedly creating issues in states ruled by opposition leaders.
‘One-party authoritarian rule’
The West Bengal chief minister said the BJP wants to make it impossible for non-BJP parties to exercise their constitutional rights and freedoms.
“It wants to dilute the powers of state governments and downgrade them to mere municipalities. In short, it wants to establish a ‘one-party authoritarian’ rule in the country,” she wrote.
In a fervent appeal to the opposition leaders, The TMC chief said that time has come for a “united and effective struggle” against the BJP’s “attacks” on democracy and Constitution.
Stressing on the need to establish a strong alternative, she wrote, “I shall work wholeheartedly with you and all other like-minded political parties in this battle. We can win this battle only with unity of hearts and minds, and by presenting a credible alternative to the people of India.”
The letter was also sent to DMK’s Stalin, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy, BJD chief Naveen Patnaik, TRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and RJD chief Tejaswi Yadav.
‘Misuse of governors’
She alleged that BJP has been misusing the office of governor in many states, including her own.
“Governors have been functioning like BJP’s office bearers and not as neutral constitutional authorities,” she said.
‘Passage of Delhi bill extremely grave development’
The TMC supremo expressed concern over the passage of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) bill by Parliament – which grants more power to the Delhi LG.
Calling it an “extremely grave development”, she said that the Centre has snatched away all the powers of the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government in the national capital and vested them in the hands of the LG.
“The LG has been made an undeclared viceroy of Delhi, acting as a proxy for the home minister and Prime Minister,” she said.
She said the law is a direct attack on the federal structure of the Indian Republic and makes a mockery of democracy since it disempowers the people of Delhi.
‘Brazen misuse of CBI, ED’
Mamata alleged that the Centre has been “brazenly and vindictively” misusing the CBI, ED and other institutions against opposition leaders.
Giving an example of Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, where assembly elections are under way, she said that the Modi government has “unleashed” the ED to conduct raids of TMC and DMK leaders.
“Predictably, these institutions target only non-BJP leaders and never those belonging to the BJP,” she said.
Other allegations
Among other allegations against the BJP and the central government, Mamata said that the Centre has been deliberately withholding transfer of funds to state governments, especially those ruled by non-BJP parties, so that they face problems in implementing development and welfare schemes.
She accused the BJP of amassing “unlimited resources” from questionable sources, which are being used to allegedly topple non-BJP governments or engineer defections in non-BJP states.
“The Modi government’s policy of reckless and wholesale privatisation of the nation’s assets is also an attack on democracy, because these assets belong to the people of India,” she said.
The TMC supremo alleged that the Centre has deactivated platforms like the National Development Council, Inter-State Council and the Planning Commission where states used to place their demands, needs or concerns.
She added that the Planning Commission has been replaced by a “toothless think-tank” called Niti Aayog.
