CHENNAI: DMK chief M. Karunanidhi on Saturday strongly opposed the Centre’s reported move to confine panchayat raj to the rural development ministry and said it would be a setback to decentralising of democracy. The step would go against the idea proposed by Mahatma Gandhi that the country lives in villages, he said and added that local bodies are the roots of democracy. The Panchayat raj scheme was brought by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and it paved way for the socially oppressed classes to steer village administration.
Earlier, the local bodies were under the control of fundamentalist forces, he said and alleged that the BJP is trying to abolish the local bodies as they are obstructing the propagation of communal, Fascist thinking of the BJP and RSS. The budget allocation for panchayat bodies was reduced to a large extent by the Centre affecting the panchayat bodies. The allocation which was 7,000 crores last years had been reduced to Rs. 96 crores, he said and added that the Centre is planning to attach the Panchayat raj ministry itself to the Rural Development ministry . Prime Minister Narendra Modi should reverse his decision to abolish the local bodies which are the life centres of democracy.
