‘Formulaic undemocratic’: Ex-bureaucrats, ex-military officers and academics skewers the opposition in their open letter
- In Reports
- 11:01 AM, May 27, 2023
- Myind Staff
In an open letter published on Friday, around 270 renowned citizens, including former military personnel, retired bureaucrats, and professors harshly chastised opposition parties for skipping the opening of the new Parliament building on May 28.
“Those that are boycotting the inauguration of the Parliament by Prime Minister Narendra Modi just don’t get how they are the ones that are “sucking the soul of democracy”. “They are following their own formulaic undemocratic, routine, and baseless boycotts,” the letter said, adding that the number of non-partisan events that had been boycotted by the opposition parties were “mind-boggling”.
Former NIA director Yogesh Chander Modi, ex-DGPs SP Vaid, BL Vohra, and Vikram Singh, ex-ambassadors Bhaswati Mukherjee, Niranjan Desai, Virender Gupta, and JS Sapra, and retired IAS officials Gopal Krishna, Deepak Singhal, and CS Khairwal were among those who signed the statement.
It mentioned four previous boycotts by Congress and the opposition and referred to the opening of the new Parliament building as a national pride moment.
“And, it is a matter of extreme despondency in the context of Indian democracy that the Congress Party, which calls itself the oldest political party, has decided to needlessly cry foul. The nature of the present Congress Party has always been undemocratic and their hubris has always come in the way of the nation’s progress.”
The statement further questioned “But what the Congress party also does not get, along with its allies, is that the Indian people get it. If only the Congress and its allies would ponder deeper, would they get that it is not the soul of democracy that has been lost but that the opposition’s popularity which has been lost?”
“The opposition doesn’t get that resorting to its modus-operandi to hold placards and vociferous sloganeering, disrespecting the most important institutions of the country, and even using household items such as milk packets to show their protest is what is “authoritarian”, is what constitutes “a grave insult...direct assault on our democracy,” it added.
The inauguration of the new building has been boycotted by more than 20 political groups, including the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Trinamool Congress, and others. PM Modi's choice to open the new Parliament in place of President Droupadi Murmu was referred to as an "assault on democracy" in a statement released by 19 parties on Wednesday.
Undoubtedly, a few political groups that are not a part of the NDA, such as the Biju Janata Dal, YSR Congress Party, and Akali Dal, have disavowed their support for the opposition's attempt. Mayawati, the leader of the Bahujan Samaj Party, said on Thursday that boycotting the inauguration was improper and that the government, which constructed the building, had the right to inaugurate it.
Image source: Hindustan Times
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