Shadow Correspondent
Jammu, Jan, 30
Pointing towards the report of Economist intelligence unit, a leading research and analysis organization stating therein that India has slipped by ten points on Democracy Index in 2019 and relegated to 51st position, Mr. Harsh Dev Singh JKNPP Chairman and former Minister said that it should be and eye opener for a narcissistically pleased govt at the centre. He said that with the ruling party getting insecure, it was using coercion to suppress all critical voices in the country. “My way or the Highway” seemed to be the guiding principle of the present BJP leadership which seemed desperate to muzzle of all voices of dissent, said Mr. Singh. He was addressing public meetings in villages Kaghote and Bhugtarian of Ramnagar constituency today.
Pointing towards the reign of terror let loose upon the peaceful protestors and opposition leaders in the country, Mr. Singh strongly condemned the govt for showing zero tolerance to the democratic right of expressing dissent. He regretted the refusal of the BJP govt in UP to provide even autopsy reports of the persons dead in the ongoing protests, allegedly due to police excesses, thereby necessitating the intervention of the court. In another incidents, recovery notices were issued to several innocent people including a person who died six years ago at the age of 94, besides two others who were in their 90s, lamented Singh. He pointed out the several political leaders and social activists like Sharad Pawar, Kamal Nath, B.S Hooda, Moti Lal Vora, Shiv Kumar, Rahul Bajay, Ram Nath Guha and even constitutional authorities like EC Ashok Lavasa were implicated in various cases and had to face the ire of the BJP govt for having questioned its policies. He said that BJP govt seemed to have lost the art of conversation and sensitivity to appreciate the dissenting voices and was mindlessly using the coercive apparatus of the state to silence those who dared question its policies. This only indicated the insecurity of the ruling party which felt threatened in the wake of growing unity amongst the opposition parties, asserted Singh.
Lampooning the govt for the prolonged restrictions in J&K post art 370 abrogation, Mr. Singh said that the erstwhile state provided the most glaring example of suppression of democratic norms and values. “With several political leaders still in captivity without any justifiable reason, the movements of various other opposition leaders had been restricted. It was the BJP leadership alone which had the unfettered discretion to visit any part of the UT to the exclusion of all other parties. Not only that, the opposition leaders had been divested of their security while augmenting the security of BJP leaders and their petty workers. The opposition parties were denied permissions to hold rallies while allowing the same to BJP. The recent CAA rally by BJP in the overcrowded parade area outside Brahman Sabha is a case in point where the entire traffic was diverted by the local administration to make the rally a success. And contrarily the NPP leadership was not only denied permission to hold a rally an 7th December put its entire leadership was behind the bars a day earlier so as to deny it its democratic rights”, asserted Mr. Harsh.
Pointing further towards the central rule imposed in J&K by denying the people their right to have an elected govt, Mr. Singh regretted that not a word was being said about restoration of democratic govt in the erstwhile state. “Democracy was gradually giving way to authoritarianism with people hardly having a say in the affairs of the new system. The entire concept of democracy had been reduced to holding of local Bodies elections with the govt maintaining a studied silence over Assembly polls which was the essence of a democratic system”, maintained Singh. Urging upon the saner elements to help restore and strengthen democratic institutions in the country, and J&K in particular, Mr. Singh said that power needed to be handed over to the people at the earliest in the new UT in accordance with the spirit of the constitution and democratic principles. He said that a legitimate, elected govt, and not the bureaucrat rule could better address the aspirations of the people in a welfare state.
