Stalin Points to Emerging Dictatorship

Strongly condemning the Bill, which, he said, was not a reform but one that struck at the very roots of democracy, Stalin, in a message on X, called upon all democratic forces to unite against the attempt to turn India into a dictatorship.

Terming the day the Bill was moved, Wednesday, as a Black Day, Stalin said: ‘30-day arrest = Removal of an elected CM. No trial, no conviction — just BJP’s DIKTAT.’

The first move of any emerging dictator was to give himself the power to arrest and remove rivals from office and that was exactly what the Bill seeks to do, he said.

Through the Bill, which has been referred to the Joint Parliamentary Committee by the Lok Sabha, the Union BJP Government had decided to defile the Constitution and its democratic foundations by turning India into a dictatorship under the Prime Minister, he said.

He also saw in the move a sinister attempt to intimidate regional parties in the NDA, whose leaders were Chief Ministers or Ministers in various States. ‘Stick with us or else… was the message to them, he said.

After the expose of vote theft by the BJP, the very mandate on which the Union BJP Government was formed was in serious question, raising doubts over its legitimacy, he said, adding ‘Having stolen the mandate of the people through fraud, the BJP is now desperate to distract public attention from this exposé. To do that, they have brought in the 130th Constitutional Amendment Bill, he said.

The plan of the Bill was clear as it allowed the BJP to foist false cases against political opponents in power across States and remove them by misusing provisions that treat even a 30-day arrest as a ground for removal of an elected leader, without any conviction or trial, he said

The unconstitutional amendment would certainly be struck down by the courts because guilt was decided only after trial, not by the mere registration of a case, he said.