‘Existing parliamentary democratic setup should be protected’
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Sep 7: The Congress and the HSPSP have opposed the BJP-led NDA Government’s “one nation, one election” proposal.
MPCC general secretary, Manuel Badwar said this move will have a devastating impact on the smaller parties.
According to him, the negative impact may not be immediately seen but the ramification would come to the fore in 10-15 years.
He said that the regional parties will not be able to sustain for long and only big national parties will survive if such a move is implemented.
“We are also going to lose the sense of democracy which is prevailing in the country at present,” Badwar said.
The MPCC general secretary said that the country might slowly be shifting to a Presidential form of government like in the United States where there is one supreme leader who will lead the country.
“I think we need to preserve this parliamentary democratic setup,” he added.
HSPDP president, KP Pangniang said they were waiting for the central government to introduce the bill.
“But we are concerned about the present trend where the BJP-led NDA at the Centre is trying to do things which are against the sentiments of the people. In the future they might go to the extent of impose the idea of ‘one nation one religion’,” Pangniang said.
He said that the government at the Centre should take the views of all the states before deciding to implement the idea of “one nation, one election”.
“We should not disturb the present democratic setup of the country,” the HSPDP president said.
The central government has set up a committee under former President Ram Nath Kovind to examine the feasibility of “one nation, one election”, prompting opposition leaders to speculate the possibilities of early Lok Sabha elections.
The move follows the announcement of a special session of Parliament from September 18 to 22.
