Surjewala accuses Centre of ‘destroying’ democracy

Deepender Deswal

Fatehabad, March 23

Criticising the Modi government for the arrest of the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Singh Surjewala accused the BJP of “destroying” democracy and the Constitution.

Addressing a workers’ meeting here on Saturday, Surjewala, who is the national general secretary of the Congress, alleged that the central agencies, including the ED, CBI and the Income-Tax Department, were being “blatantly misused” by the Centre in a bid to suppress the voice of Opposition by intimidating its leaders.

During the meeting, he talked about the arrests of sitting Chief Ministers Arvind Kejriwal and earlier Hemant Soren. AICC secretary Vineet Punia had organised the workers’ meeting in his home segment.

The Congress MP alleged that efforts were on to finish the democratic processes like elections in the country. “Autonomy of the constitutional bodies like the Election Commission is being eroded. This is going to be the last elections that will decide whether the democracy will survive in the country or not,” he said, while claiming that the Congress can save the democracy.

Referring to electoral bonds, the Congress MP alleged that the ruling party seemed to be “arm-twisting” the firms to donate money through electoral bonds, which had been held illegal and unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Stating that the recent developments showed nervousness of the BJP leadership, Surjewala said its last-minute change of the Chief Minister in Haryana will not make any difference. He said changing the Chief Minister was only an admission of its failure and misrule in Haryana for over nine years.

Surjewala lauded the work of Vineet Punia for the party under the leadership of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former president Rahul Gandhi. On this occasion, he also paid tributes to Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru to observe their martyrdom day.

Speaking on the occasion, Punia said the Congress was on a comeback mode in Haryana with party’s rank and file working together to defeat the BJP.

“It is just a matter of time when power will be back in the hands of people under the Congress government,” he added. Punia said the BJP and the JJP were separated just to befool the public. “But, people are too wise not to be misled by the BJP’s and JJP’s tactics,” he alleged.

‘Change of CM won’t make any difference’

Stating that the recent developments showed nervousness of the BJP leadership, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Singh Surjewala said its last-minute change of the Chief Minister will not make any difference. He said changing the Chief Minister was only an admission of its failure and misrule in Haryana for over nine years.