The Central government move to conduct grama sabhas using the NITI Aayog is an infringement on the federal system of the country, the CPI(M) State secretariat has said.
In a statement here on Friday, the secretariat said that this move smacked of the Centre’s bid to directly intervene in the functions of the grama panchayats overlooking the State governments.
In a country where a federal system existed, the move to encroach upon the rights of the State governments should not be tolerated. When the late Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister, he had made a similar move but had to repeal it in the wake of protests. Now the BJP too was adopting a similar course, it said.
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The Centre had asked District Collectors to hold the sabhas to help Prime Minister Narendra Modi to prepare a vision document. But the move to overlook the State government was unwelcome. The Centre that scrapped the Planning Commission for weakening the federal system was trying to make yet another intervention, the statement said.
If the Centre persisted with such moves, protests would arise from the grama panchayats itself and hence should relinquish the move, the statement said.