Democracy should be protected: Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan

The Kerala Chief Minister said that with the rally today, "We will have the beginning of a new resistance".

Khammam: Coming down heavily on the BJP Government for taking unilateral decisions and not taking States into confidence, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said democracy should be protected in the better interest of the nation.

The BRS party’s public meeting was conducted at a time when the basic tenets of Constitution were facing threats from the people, who were at the helm of affairs at the Centre, he said, adding that this was the beginning of a new resistance, a resistance to secure the ideals that were fought for in the freedom struggle, a resistance to protect secularism, democracy, the Constitution and thereby the nation.

In a scathing attack on the BJP government, the Kerala Chief Minister said that the Central government was moving against sovereignty through different international defence agreements. It was against socialism and by replacing parliamentary democracy with the presidential form of governance, they were going against the concept of democracy. Laws were being enacted that divide people on communal lines, he said.

The senior CPI(M) leader also said BJP’s campaigns of ‘One Nation One Tax’, ‘One Nation One Uniform’, ‘One Nation One Election’ were against the federal spirit.

Further, when State governments plan to raise additional resources through alternative sources, the Centre intervenes and creates hurdles, he said, adding that even the rightful share of funds that were guaranteed by the Constitution were denied.

“Such attacks are most acute in States ruled by governments opposed to the BJP-RSS combine. We are seeing it in Telangana, as well as in Kerala,” he said. He also criticised the BJP government for its alleged effort to portray Hindi as a national language by sidelining other regional languages and for its alleged bid to destroy judicial autonomy.

Complimenting Telangana Chief Minister for integrated collectorate complexes and Kanti Velugu programme, he said the Chief Minister was striking a balance in terms of welfare and development.