NDA systematically eroded democracy: Mahua Moitra
She said the ruling party has the right to influence policies over a large range of matters but it “cannot usurp power in a way that kills constitutional rights for the rest”
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MP Mahua Moitra at Parliament, Saturday. (PTI)TMC leader Mahua Moitra attacked the NDA government in LS saying the political executive for the past 10 years had “systematically eroded democracy and the Constitution was bleeding from a thousand cuts”.
Participating in the debate on the Constitution in LS Friday, Mahua said the nation was made by great men and women, but the real challenge today was ensuring that no one man should believe he is greater than the nation and that he is above the principles of the Constitution.
She said the ruling party has the right to influence policies over a large range of matters but it “cannot usurp power in a way that kills constitutional rights for the rest”. “This government’s modus operandi has been indirect and creeping, an incremental systemic assault, for the past 10 years.”
She said it was crystal clear that this political executive for the past 10 years had systematically eroded democracy. “Our Constitution is bleeding from a thousand cuts — samvidhan khatre mein zaroor hai,” she said.
She said the Modi government has consistently sought to erase the distinction between the party and the state by undermining and capturing all the mechanisms that seek executive accountability. “It is killing our Constitution by a thousand cuts,” she said.
“In the first test, democracies seek electoral accountability from the political executive. Measures such as electoral manipulations, voter disenfranchisement, biased campaign finance over time give the ruling party an unfair advantage. Voter disenfranchisement has reached epic proportions in India,” Mahua said, referring to past general elections and recent bypolls in BJP-ruled states.
“Police used to threaten, beat, and intimidate voters. We saw it in Rampur, we saw it in Sambhal, entire localities were forced to stay home,” she said.
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