Modi turning into an autocrat: Sudheeran

‘The Union government’s administration is now concentrated in Modi’s hands’

KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration smacks of autocracy and Mr. Modi is also making no secret of the fact that he is an autocrat. “The entire Union government administration is now concentrated in Modi’s hands,” he said.

Mr. Sudheeran said this while inaugurating the Kollam district convention of his party’s booth committee presidents here on Monday. The autocratic attitude of Mr. Modi is moving towards even demolishing the parliamentary system of the country, he said.

Cabinet ministers are being made into mute spectators and Mr. Modi is also trying to control the judiciary. Mr. Sudheeran alleged that there are also attempts to weaken the federal set up of the country by Mr. Modi and this got exposed by his observation that the country does not need a Planning Commission.

“Can a Prime Minister unilaterally make such a viewpoint,” he asked. The Planning Commission is a vital pillar of the country’s federal structure, he said. The idea to do away with the Planning Commission appears to be a line of thinking by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh which Mr. Modi echoed, he said.

Most of the moves being made by the Prime Minister are aimed at weakening the country’s democratic and judicial set-up, Mr. Sudheeran alleged. Even no significance is being attached to the media at Delhi. Union ministers are prevented from interacting with the media, he said.

But the silver lining is that at the national level the Congress is making a strong comeback and this was reflected in the recent byelections. The people have begun to understand the double standards of the BJP and its agenda of keeping the country polarised on communal grounds.

He said that in Kerala the CPI(M) is still averse to deviating from the path of violence. The Kathiroor murder only serves to further expose this fact. In this connection the CBI probe into the murder case is most welcome, he said. “Though some have been convicted in the T.P. Chandrashekaran murder case, the real conspirators of that murder still roam free,” he said.

“The CBI probe has sent jitters in the CPI(M),” he said.

The CPI(M) is a party that tried to even project the jailed AIADMK leader J. Jayalalithaa as the leader of the third front mooted by the CPI(M) leaders. They have now to apologise to the people for that, he said.