‘How will democracy survive without Oppn’
Former Rajasthan chief minister and senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot on Sunday targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government over freezing of bank accounts of Congress while raising concerns over the “survival of democracy” in the absence of an opposition. The BJP, however, hit back terming his comments “baseless”.
“How will the democracy survive if the opposition is suppressed,” Gehlot said adding that even the United Nations had condemned such actions.
Gehlot was speaking at a workers’ conference in Karoti area of Sirohi district in support of his son and Congress candidate Vaibhav Gehlot from Jalore Lok Sabha constituency for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
He alleged, “The United Nations has also raised questions on how will a political party contest elections if its accounts are being closed.” Gehlot said that BJP leaders are “claiming about becoming a world leader, but the country is being criticised in this way.”
Gehlot said that people are saying that, “if (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi wins this time too, will there be any further elections or not? But if there are, the situation will be like China, Russia and North Korea. Where only they stand and they win. There are no two parties there.”
Talking about the recent arrests of former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Gehlot said: “These two were elected by the people but they were sent to jail and all the countries including America, Germany are criticising the drama going on in our country.”
The Congress leader questioned that both are the national president of their party and in such a scenario, “how will their parties contest the elections? How will the campaigning be done?”
The former chief minister targeted the BJP over its recent win in the state assembly elections, claiming, “The BJP had won Rajasthan by spreading lies.” He alleged that in the “present government regime incidents of rape, atrocities are on rise, but they (the BJP) do not have any concern with it.”
Talking about the Ram Temple Gehlot said: “The Ram Mandir has been built on the Supreme Court’s order... if the Congress was in power, it would have also followed the court’s order but after constructing the temple, the Congress would have hand it over to Shankaracharya instead of politicising the matter like the BJP.”Talking about when the Congress was in power in Rajasthan, Gehlot alleged: “The leaders occupying the first and second positions in the country have been unsuccessful in their attempts to topple the government in Rajasthan. The efforts of leaders from Delhi, who hold top positions, in trying to destabilise governments were unsuccessful.”
Gehlot alleged: “They succeeded in buying 50 MLAs in Maharashtra, each for ₹50 crore, placed bids worth ₹35 crore in Madhya Pradesh, and managed to topple the government in Karnataka.” “However, their endeavors in Rajasthan were unsuccessful, and our government completed a full five-year term, which is considered a significant achievement by the people,” he said.
Reacting to remarks made by Gehlot, incumbent BJP MP Devji Patel said: “Gehlot is making baseless comments. The people have given the mandate to the BJP to combat corruption, which remains a top priority for the party.”
“It doesn’t matter which position or party one belongs to; if an individual is implicated in corruption, they must face the consequences,” Patel asserted.