NEW DELHI – Amid rumblings within the INDIA bloc, the Opposition parties led by Trinamool Congress (TMC), Samajwadi Party (SP) and few others have slammed the Centre over the ‘One Nation, One Election’ bill.
TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday described the ONOE as a ‘direct assault on the very foundation of our democracy’ and said that his party will fight tooth and nail against this anti-democratic agenda of BJP-led NDA government. SP said that the ONOE is not only undemocratic but also a conspiracy by the ruling party to destroy the Constitution.
Both TMC and SP took to X to share their strong aversion and opposition to the ONOE bill, ahead of its tabling in the Parliament. Abhishek Banerjee, TMC General Secretary coming down heavily on the Centre said, “The BJP’s brazen attempt to introduce a Constitutional Amendment bill today, while the Constitution debate bill is still underway in Parliament, is nothing short of an unashamed attack on democracy. “
“This is not just a bill, rather it is a direct assault on the very foundation of our democracy built through the sacrifices of our founding fathers,” he added. He further said that Bengal will not sit silent and his party will fight tooth and nail to protect the soul of India and crush this ‘anti-democratic’ agenda. SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav also took to X to express strong reservations against the bill.
“This will reduce the importance of states as well as Rajya Sabha. Tomorrow the BJP will demand dissolution of Rajya Sabha as well and will give a new slogan ‘One country-one assembly’ to bring down their dictatorship. Whereas the truth is that in our country, considering the state as the root, there is a constitutional provision for the continuity of ‘Rajya Sabha’. Lok Sabha is for a period of five years,” he wrote on X.
He further added that if this bill goes on to become a law, this will take the country from democracy to autocracy and the elections will merely remain a sham. -IANS