Mangaluru, Aug, 19: Lashing out at Narendra Modi led NDA government for “unprovoked midnight action” by the Pune police who arrested half a dozen agitating students of the Film and Television Institute of India, AICC spokesperson Manish Tiwari said that the brutal crackdown does not augur well for Indian democracy.
Addressing media persons in the city on Wednesday, the former information and broadcasting minister termed the crackdown as a harbinger of the ‘Modi midnight knock syndrome’ wherein those protesting or disagreeing with the government are ‘jailed, tortured and their civil liberties curtailed'
The way the government has tried to curtail right to privacy in the Supreme Court, and gone about handling the discriminatory law of defamation and has been squeamish about upholding the right of the LGBT community tantamounts to curtailing liberal spaces across India. "This Fascist, Hitler type tendencies of the government will only grow if the progressive, pluralistic and progressive forces do not react equivocally and take on such tendencies head on," Tiwari warned.
Reminding that media which has been in the forefront of highlight such tendencies too are facing the brunt of this government, Tiwari said this can be seen in the manner in which notices were served on television channels for their coverage of the Yakub Memon hanging. "It is imperative that all likeminded forces condemn this aberration," he said adding the Congress earnestly appeals to all such forces who hold liberalism dear to join hands in taking on the government.
To a query whether the membership drive of the BJP, with a target to enrol 11 crore party workers, had become a threat to the future of the Congress, he said “I am worried over the future of the BJP. By 2019, It might miss the political bus in India. From May 2014 to August 2015, there is a sea of change in the mood of the people.”
“People have realised that the country cannot be run on bluffs. The governance in the last 14 months has taken a big hit. There is religious polarisation orchestrated by the BJP in the country. The BJP is not politically stable in spite of winning the majority in the election. Union Minister Jaitely has shrunk the Indian economy and there is negative growth of inflation, which is not a good development. According to the government records, eight sectors of the government including oil sector has reported negative growth in the last five months,” he said.
The government will lose its relevance and the BJP will be marginalised in the country, Tewari added.
On GST Bill, he said there was problem with designing of the Bill. “We had sought clarifications with regard to rate of taxation, redressal mechanism and exemption of certain products from the ambit of the GST Bill. Unless design issues are addressed, our stand will remain the same,”?Tewari said and added that the government had to agree to the demand of the Opposition with regard to a union minister and two of BJP’s chief ministers facing corruption charges.
As far as the allegations against the Congress leaders including former chief minister of Goa and chief minister of Himachal Pradesh are concerned, they are exaggerated. “We firmly believe that law should take its own course as far as investigations against two Congress leaders are concerned. Digambar Kamath is facing the law and fighting the allegations legally.”
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