Accusing the Harish Rawat government in Uttarakhand of murdering democracy, opposition BJP on Wednesday said it will boycott all programmes of the Chief Minister by showing him black flags and observe Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan’s 113th birth anniversary on October 11 as ‘Save Democracy Day.’
Taking strong exception to the manner in which BJP MLAs were treated when the party undertook a march recently to the Chief Minister’s residence and sat on a dharna at its gate in support of its demands, Pradesh BJP president Tirath Singh Rawat said it shows that the state government is out to muffle the voice of dissent.
“Forcible lifting and detention of democratically protesting BJP MLAs show the murder of democracy. What kind of a system is this where not even MLAs have the right to voice their feelings? By not listening to us, the Chief Minister has displayed his utter disregard for democratic norms.
“As Loknayak Jai Prakash Narayan symbolises a fight for revival of democratic values at the time of Emergency, we have decided to observe his 113th birth anniversary on October 11 as ‘Save Democracy Day’,” he added.
BJP workers and leaders will stage dharnas and demonstrations besides burning effigies of the state government in all Assembly constituencies of Uttarakhand on October 11 to register their protest against “murder of democracy”, he said.
BJP will also boycott all programmes of the Chief Minister with party MLAs staying out of them and its cadres showing him black flags, the BJP leader said.
Though not disclosing whether the party will participate in the proceedings of the state Assembly during its forthcoming session in Gairsain on November 2, Mr Tirath said the party will gherao the Assembly in protest against the state government’s anti-democratic ways and its growing intolerance for the voice of dissent.
BJP MLAs including Tirath, Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Ajay Bhatt, former speaker Harbans Kapoor, were among 26 legislators detained here recently from outside the CM residence while staging a dharna to demand withdrawal of “false” cases against some of its MLAs including Arvind Pandey, Rajkumar Thukral and Puran Singh Phartyal booked under different charges.
The party has been particularly peeved at Chief Minister Harish Rawat’s refusal to meet the wife and son of MLA Arvind Pandey who was sent to jail recently on charges of assaulting a government official on duty.
Mr Tirath also referred to a recent incident when the Chief Minister refused to meet a delegation of senior party leaders including former Chief Ministers Bhagat Singh Koshiyari and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank despite giving them a prior appointment.
“This only shows the state government’s arrogance of power,” he said. - PTI
