Democracy facing grave threat, says Manish Tewari

Manish Tiwari met a cross-section of people, including retired military and civil officers, and thinkers, at a gathering organised by Kendri Guru Singh Sabha on its campus

The ongoing Parliamentary polls could be the last one if voters remained complacent in saving the democracy and the Constitution that were facing a grave threat at this crucial juncture, Congress candidate from Chandigarh Manish Tewari said on Friday.

Tewari said the country had slipped into the same political predicament that India had confronted in 1947. (HT file)

Meeting a cross-section of people, including retired military and civil officers, and thinkers, at a gathering organised by Kendri Guru Singh Sabha on its campus, Tewari said the country had slipped into the same political predicament that India had confronted in 1947.

“As in 1947, the country is again facing severe pulls and pushes, whether to strive for a secular and democratic republic or to get swayed by the religious fantasy allowing it to become a ‘theocratic state’. At that time, India chose to be a democratic polity and strengthened it as the world’s largest democracy,” he said.

“Unfortunately, since 2014, the country’s democratic set-up again underwent a serious threat, following undue prompting of communalism and resurgence of sectarian politics,” Tewari added.