SHILLONG, April 16: The Opposition Trinamool Congress on Sunday questioned the decision of the Election Commission of India to strip the party of its “national status” and termed it as yet another strategy of the saffron brigade to demolish the opposition.
“It is really very intriguing since the party (TMC) was given the national status when the party had not even extended to other states and had no MLAs in any other state but now that the party has already expanded and got MLAs in Meghalaya, the party has been relegated to a state party,” Meghalaya TMC vice president George B. Lyngdoh said.
“So now how do we accept this kind of decision by the Election Commission?” he questioned.
“The party will be seeking legal advice on the decision of the Election Commission and based on that further steps will be initiated,” he said.
Asked why the EC had taken such a decision, he said, “I feel there is a sense of fear in the BJP camp and that is why they are targeting the opposition parties.”
He further claimed that the BJP-led central government is using the Election Commission and other institutions within its control to demolish its political opponents.
“We see NCP, TMC, and Congress as frontrunners and primary opposition parties and so they are being targeted. The disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha based on a decision of a lower court shows that the BJP is going all out to demolish the opposition as it is sensing a strong opposition in the 2024 elections,” he claimed.
“These is a strategy (by the BJP) to mobilise and demolish the opposition and move the country towards an autocratic system. If you see the Parliament sessions, the BJP is not allowing the session to go ahead with adequate deliberations. What kind of democracy are we witnessing as the ruling is stopping Parliament from functioning?” he questioned.
It may be recalled that the EC had recently recognised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as a national party and withdrew the national party status of the All India Trinamool Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Communist Party of India (CPI).
