Democracy and the Constitution of India will be in danger if the BJP comes back to power again. The Central government not only abused and ‘captured’ institutions such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Income Tax (I-T) department, but also ‘weakened’ the Election Commission, Comptroller and Auditor General of India, and vice-chancellors of universities by appointing affiliate members, said activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan here on Sunday.
Addressing a meeting organised by Bharat Jodo Abhiyaan (BJA) and Telangana People’s JAC (TPJAC), along with Telangana People’s JAC convenor G. Haragopal and Anjali Bharadwaj of Common Cause, he said that the electoral bonds scheme is the biggest scam ever in the country.
“The scale of corruption is much beyond ₹8,400 crore. Contracts and projects worth lakhs of crores were awarded on the basis of quid pro quo of electoral bonds,” he alleged. An analysis of EB data indicated possible corruption and illegality and requires investigation by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under court monitoring, he said.
Exposing ‘gaps’ in election norms, he said that there was an election expenditure cap of ₹95 lakh for individual contestants, but BJP had received ₹8,400 crore through EBs alone. Preparations are underway to file a petition in the Supreme Court on this, he said.
According to Ms. Bharadwaj, one of the petitioners in the EB case, the Constitution is under threat in three ways: clampdown on people’s right to question, weakening of pro-people laws and democratic institutions abdicating their responsibility.
Mr. Haragopal observed that the BJP government was trying to crush dissent in every way possible and was invoking draconian laws against ordinary citizens raising important issues.
“We are in an alarming situation today and have a historic responsibility to stand up for democracy. Telangana has a rich history of people’s uprisings, and we must rise to the occasion,” he said.
Kiran Vissa from BJA, advocate B.V. Seshagiri Rao, Zahid Qadri of Jago Telangana and others were present.
