Sisodia Arrest: CM KCR, Opposition leaders write to Modi

The letter also listed out a number of instances that proved the Modi government’s now well known strategy of targeting Opposition parties while BJP leaders and those siding with the saffron party were allowed to roam scot-free.

Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi President and Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, along with leaders of eight major Opposition parties from across the country, dashed off a strongly worded letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday in the wake of the arrest of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, condemning the blatant misuse of central agencies apart from pointing out how several Governors were acting in violation of constitutional provisions.

In a letter signed by Chandrashekhar Rao, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee (AITC), Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab CM Bhagwant Singh Mann (AAP), Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Farooq Abdullah (JKNC), Sharad Pawar (NCP), Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena, UBT) and Akhilesh Yadav (SP), the Opposition pointed out that blatant misuse of central agencies against members of the opposition appeared to suggest that the country had transitioned from an democracy into an autocracy.

Stating that after a long witch-hunt, Sisodia was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) without a shred of evidence against him, the leaders said the allegations against Sisodia were outrightly baseless and smacked of a political conspiracy.

“His arrest has enraged people across the country. Manish Sisodia is recognised globally for transforming Delhi’s school education. His arrest will be cited worldwide as an example of a political witch-hunt and further confirm what the world was only suspecting – that India’s democratic values stand threatened under an authoritarian BJP regime,” they said.

The letter also listed out a number of instances of the Modi government targeting Opposition parties while BJP leaders and those siding with the saffron party were allowed to roam scot-free.

“Out of the total number of key politicians booked, arrested, raided or interrogated by the investigation agencies under your administration since 2014, the maximum belongs to the opposition. Interestingly, investigation agencies go slow on cases against Opposition politicians who join the BJP. For example, former Congress member and current Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was probed by the CBI and the ED in 2014 and 2015 over the Saradha chit fund scam. However, the case didn’t progress after he joined the BJP,” they said.

Similarly, former TMC leaders Suvendu Adhikari and Mukul Roy were under the ED and CBI scanner in the Narada sting operation case but the cases didn’t progress after they joined the BJP ahead of the assembly polls in the State. There are many such examples, including that of Narayan Rane of Maharashtra,” they said.

Since 2014, there has been a marked rise in the number of raids conducted, cases lodged against and arrest of the opposition leaders, they pointed out, citing the cases of Lalu Prasad Yadav (Rashtriya Janata Dal), Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena), Azam Khan (Samajwadi Party), Nawab Malik, Anil Deshmukh (NCP) and Abhishek Banerjee (TMC), they said, adding that central agencies often sparked suspicion that they were working as extended wings of the ruling dispensation at the Centre.

“In many such cases, the timings of the cases lodged or arrests made have coincided with elections making it abundantly clear that they were politically motivated. The manner in which prominent members of the opposition have been targeted lends credence to the allegation that your government is using investigating agencies to target or eliminate the opposition. The list of the agencies your government has been accused of using against the opposition isn’t limited to the Enforcement Directorate,” the letter said.

“It is clear that these agencies have their priorities misplaced. Following the publication of an international forensic financial research report, SBI and LIC have reportedly lost over Rs 78,000 crore in market capitalisation of their shares due to exposure to a certain firm. Why have the central agencies not been pressed into service to investigate the firm’s financial irregularities despite the public money at stake?” they asked.

The Opposition leaders also pointed out how Governors across the country were acting in violation of constitutional provisions and frequently hindering governance of States.

“They are wilfully undermining democratically elected State governments and choosing instead to obstruct governance as per their whims and fancies. Be it the Governor of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Punjab, Telangana or the Lt Governor of Delhi – the Governors have become the face of the widening rift between the Centre and States run by non-BJP governments and threaten the spirit of cooperative federalism, which the States continue to nurture in spite of a lack of expression by the Centre,” they said, adding that as a result, the people of the country had now begun to question the role of the Governors in Indian democracy.

“The misuse of central agencies and constitutional offices like that of the Governor – to settle scores outside of the electoral battlefield is strongly condemnable as it does not bode well for our democracy. The manner in which these agencies have been used since 2014 has tarnished their image and raised questions about their autonomy and impartiality. The faith of the people of India in these agencies continues to erode,” they noted, also demanding that the mandate given by the people be respected even if it was in favour of a party whose ideology did not align with that of the BJP.