AAP National Convenor and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann arrived in Hyderabad on Saturday to meet TRS (BRS) president and Telangana CM K Chandrashekhar Rao for their campaign against Centre’s anti-democracy ordinance.
Meeting turned out to be a success when KCS extended his support to AAP and termed this step of BJP as an insult to the people of Delhi who elected Kejriwal government. Both the leaders held a healthy discussion over the distressing issue and deliberated upon the state of affairs in the country.
The AAP Convenor expressed his gratitude to KCR for meeting and his support and emphasised their joint determination to challenge this oppressive measure in the Rajya Sabha.
In a scathing indictment of the Centre's actions, the Delhi CM lamented the revocation of Delhi's powers within a mere eight days through the introduction of an ordinance, following eight long years of legal battles to secure the city's rights as granted by the Supreme Court.
He accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of showing contempt for the judiciary, asserting that their message was clear: they would disregard any court order that did not align with their agenda by resorting to ordinances.
He further underscored the significance of the upcoming Rajya Sabha vote, stating that if this bill fails in Rajya Sabha, then the Modi Government will not be able to come back in 2024. He urged fellow lawmakers to recognize the critical nature of this decision, highlighting the potential consequences for the future of democracy in India.
He highlighted how the people of Delhi have fought a long battle to get the rights that the constitution grants them. He said that soon after the AAP government was formed for the first time in 2015, the Centre led by PM Narendra Modi snatched away the powers that the Constitution had given to the state government by merely issuing a notification.
“Our government was formed in February 2015 and within three months, in May 2015, the Centre issued this notification and snatched our powers. For eight long years, we fought against this injustice and approached the Supreme Court.
Finally now, when the court ruled in our favour and the people of Delhi won the battle, the Centre promulgated an Ordinance and overturned the court order within eight days,” he said.Kejriwal said that this ordinance is not only an insult to the mandate of the people of Delhi but also anti-democracy.
It is not only about Delhi, it is about our nation, democracy and our federal structure. BJP won't let an elected government work which is insult of the people. BJP apply three things in non BJP states, first buying MLAs, misusing ED-CBI and misusing governors and bringing anti-democracy ordinances.
If BJP won't let state governments work then there should be only 1 Prime Minister and 31 Governors, there is no need for state governments.He added, we all need to come together to defeat this ordinance in the Rajya Sabha.
I believe that if this Bill is defeated in the Rajya Sabha, then in some ways it will be a semifinal for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the BJP will not be voted back to power by the people of the country. It will give confidence to the people that BJP can be defeated.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann warned that the country's democracy was at serious risk, as elected leaders were being replaced by handpicked individuals, undermining the principles of representative governance. AAP Senior Leaders including Rajya Sabha MP Shri Sanjay Singh and Rajya Sabha MP Shri Raghav Chadha were also present in the meeting and press conference.
He said, “It is not the elected representatives chosen by the people who are running the government, but rather the individuals selected by the central government. However, the essence of democracy lies in those who have been elected by the people. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor have not been chosen by the people, nor have they received votes from the public. They have been sent by the central government to create trouble for the elected governments of their choice,” he said.
Citing an unfortunate incident in his state, he added, “Punjab governor refused to give us permission for a budget session, which we got later from the supreme court. While addressing the state legislative assembly too, the Governor wanted to use the term “this government”, whereas constitutionally the Governor always says “my government”.
The Governor's residences across the country have become the state offices of the Bharatiya Janata Party, and the Governors have become their star campaigners."On the matter of boycotting the NITI Aayog meeting, Mann said that the central government is refusing the rights of the states.
Such meetings are only photo ops where no work is done. Centre is not releasing Punjab's RDF and they hadn't considered the last NITI Aayog meeting suggestions too, so there is no point in such meetings. He also applauded KCR for financial aid he gave to the families of Farmers' protest martyrs and said that their support against this ordinance will be important too.