West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, in a letter to several non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, accused it of trying to establish a “one-party authoritarian rule” in India, calling for a plan of action to be formulated against the BJP after the conclusion of the ongoing assembly elections.
The three-page letter, dated March 28, was addressed to more than a dozen non-BJP leaders, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv sena supremo and Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) Tejashwi Yadav, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president MK Stalin, among others.
Banerjee accused the BJP and its government at the Centre of “attacking democracy and constitutional federalism in India,” citing the recently-passed Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) Bill as an example. “With this law, the Lieutenant Governor Delhi has been made the undeclared Viceroy of Delhi, acting as a proxy for the home minister and the prime minister. The government has snatched away practically all the powers of the democratically elected government of Delhi,” the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief, known for her frequent face-offs with the BJP and the central government, wrote.
She cited six other instances to highlight her point: "Governors functioning as BJP office bearers, use of investigating agencies against opposition parties and governments, withholding transfer of funds to non-BJP states, disbanding of the National Development Council, Inter-state Council, Planning Commission; amassing of unlimited resources by the BJP to topple non-BJP governments, and the Central government's reckless policies of privatisation of national assets."
{{/usCountry}}She cited six other instances to highlight her point: "Governors functioning as BJP office bearers, use of investigating agencies against opposition parties and governments, withholding transfer of funds to non-BJP states, disbanding of the National Development Council, Inter-state Council, Planning Commission; amassing of unlimited resources by the BJP to topple non-BJP governments, and the Central government's reckless policies of privatisation of national assets."
{{/usCountry}}The Centre-state relations, and those between the ruling party at the Centre and the Opposition parties, have never been this bad in the history of India, Banerjee further wrote, remarking that the blame for this rests squarely with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "authoritarian conduct."
"Therefore, I strongly believe that the time has come for a strong and effective struggle against the BJP's attacks on democracy and Constitution, promising to work wholeheartedly with all similar-minded parties against the BJP," she added.
The West Bengal chief minister concluded the letter stating that the battle can only be won by "presenting a credible alternative to the people of Indi