Kolkata, Dec 12: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday slammed the Union Cabinet for clearing the One Nation One Election Bill. The Chief Minister said that the Union Cabinet bulldozed their way through the “unconstitutional and anti-federal” bill.
She has accused the Union government of ignoring every legitimate concern raised by experts and opposition leaders. “This is not a carefully considered reform; it’s an authoritarian imposition designed to undermine India’s democracy and federal structure,” said the Chief Minister. She claimed that the Trinamool Congress MPs, both in the Lok Sabha as well as in the Rajya Sabha, will oppose the “draconian” legislation on the floor of the Parliament.
“Bengal will never bow to Delhi’s dictatorial whims. This fight is about saving India’s democracy from the clutches of autocracy,” the Chief Minister read. In April this year, while addressing an election campaign rally before the general elections, the Chief Minister claimed that by pushing ‘One Nation, One Election’, the BJP is actually trying to implement “One Nation, One Political Party” in India.
Even the leadership of her arch-political rival in West Bengal, CPI-M, has criticised the “One Nation, One Election Bill” and claimed that this was the original strategy of RSS which the current Union government is trying to bring into force. The West Bengal unit of BJP, has, however, welcomed the decision of the Union Cabinet to accept the ‘One Nation, One Election’ Bill.
Party’s former national vice president Dilip Ghosh said that this is being done to save both time and money spent behind polls. “This will be a positive move for the entire country,” Ghosh said.
IANS