In India, democracy takes blows daily: Kejriwal writes Stalin
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New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote his Tamil Nadu counterpart MK Stalin on Saturday saying that democracy in India is taking blows every day and the country's federal structure is facing a severe threat, PTI reported.
He wrote Stalin a day before his appearance before the CBI. He was replying to Stalin's letter, and he added that "every tenet" of India's Constitution stands compromised, be it liberty, equality, secularism, or fraternity.
He said the interface of the state governments and their Governors or Lt Governors has effectively become "a battlefront where a silent war is being waged by the Union government." The governors and Lt Governors are "wilfully" undermining democratically elected state governments and obstructing administration as per their "whims and fancies", the Delhi chief minister charged.
He lauded the Tamil Nadu Assembly for passing a resolution seeking a time frame for governors to approve bills passed by the state legislatures and said his government would also bring a similar resolution to Delhi Assembly in the next session.
"It is a foregone conclusion that democracy in India is suffering from blows every single day," Kerjriwal noted in his letter. "Every tenet of our glorious constitution stands compromised - be it liberty, equality, secularism, or fraternity. It is also beyond doubt that our federal structure, which enfranchised people in the most remote corners, is in grave danger from forces that seek to illegitimately centralise all power," he added.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) summoned the AAP leader in connection with the excise policy case on Sunday. He has been asked to be present at the agency headquarters at 11 am to answer queries of the investigating team, officials said.
The central probe agency has already arrested former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in connection with the case.
It is alleged that the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The policy was later scrapped.