Given how journalists are targeted, free speech is being finished, says Yashwant Sinha

Sinha thanked the Congress MLAs for attending the event and, in a snide remark, said he hoped “they will be offering the same cooperation on voting day as well”. However, he clarified immediately that he knew “how much pressure these people work under”.

“Friends, this presidential election is being fought under extraordinary circumstances. There is an undeclared emergency and given the manner in which journalists are being attacked and suppressed, it is evident that freedom of speech guaranteed by the Constitution is being finished,” said the former Union minister.
“Today, society is being divided on communal lines and it is our duty to not allow it because if that happens, everything will be destroyed. The Constitution that is secular and has given freedom and opportunity to everyone is today in danger. It is being finished slowly. All democratic institutions are being suppressed, including the media,” Sinha said.

“This presidential election is not any more about any post but a bigger issue about the winner applying their basic rights to save the Constitution. I am not at all advocating that there should be friction between the president and the prime minister, but if a rubber stamp becomes the president, then they will not be able to save India’s Constitution,” said Sinha.

Making a veiled attack on Murmu, who belongs to a tribal community, Sinha said, “It does not matter what religion and caste I come from and what she comes from. This is a fight between two opposing ideologies. She was the governor of Jharkhand for six years. I also come from Jharkhand. Her community did not benefit at all after her elevation to the governor’s post.”

Sinha also said Gujarat was facing an “undeclared state of emergency”.

“I am surprised to know that for so many years, Section 144 has been imposed in Gujarat. What is happening in Gujarat? What dangers does this state face? Even for social programmes, one needs to take permission. Even during the emergency, such circumstances were not there,” he said.
Jagdish Thakor announced that his party’s MLAs would be supporting Sinha in the presidential poll.