AgenciesThe Central government is practicing "coercive unilateralism", using the central agencies as “its extended arms” and trying to build an "opposition mukt Bharat" instead of “Congress mukt” India, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal said in Kolkata on Saturday. “The country is moving towards a direction where there will be ban on protests in the entire country whereas dissent is the basic right,” Sibal lashed out at the Centre, referring to stoppage of demonstrations, protests, dharnas, in the precincts of Parliament House.
The circular on dharnas or protests comes amid opposition outrage over the alleged "gag order" on using certain words in Parliament, and has sparked criticism from the opposition Congress.
“Let’s not fool ourselves, there is no cooperative federalism. From “Cooperative Federalism” we have now moved to "Coercive Unilateralism". If India is a union of states, then today it is the Union that is trying to control the states,” Sibal said, while speaking at ‘The Discourse 2022’ organized by Confederation of Indian Industries today.
"We have now moved from "Cooperative Federalism" to “Coercive Unilateralism”. The Central government is practicing "coercive unilateralism", using the central agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate and trying to topple the elected governments, Sibal said.
Citing the recent examples of Maharashtra, Sibal said, “Elected governments can be toppled. It started with Uttarakhand where Presidential rule was imposed and the elected government was topped and people defected. Then, it was followed by Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, and then Maharashtra.In which democratic government of federal polity does an elected government get replaced and the largest majority is not sworn in power? This has happened to Congress in Goa, so was the case in Meghalaya and Manipur,” Sibal said.
He also pointed out how the Centre takes unilateral decisions in case of Niti Ayog and the states do not have a forum where they can interact. Earlier, the states used to come and engage in dialogue, he mentioned.
West Bengal Law Minister Moloy Ghatak, state Chief Secretary H K Dwivedi, Soumendranath Mookherjee, state Advocate General and Vice-Chancellor of West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences Dr Nirmal Kanti Chakrabarty were also speakers at the ‘The Discourse 2022-Modern Federalism-People-Polity & Business.’
The circular on dharnas or protests comes amid opposition outrage over the alleged "gag order" on using certain words in Parliament, and has sparked criticism from the opposition Congress.
“Let’s not fool ourselves, there is no cooperative federalism. From “Cooperative Federalism” we have now moved to "Coercive Unilateralism". If India is a union of states, then today it is the Union that is trying to control the states,” Sibal said, while speaking at ‘The Discourse 2022’ organized by Confederation of Indian Industries today.
"We have now moved from "Cooperative Federalism" to “Coercive Unilateralism”. The Central government is practicing "coercive unilateralism", using the central agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate and trying to topple the elected governments, Sibal said.
Citing the recent examples of Maharashtra, Sibal said, “Elected governments can be toppled. It started with Uttarakhand where Presidential rule was imposed and the elected government was topped and people defected. Then, it was followed by Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, and then Maharashtra.In which democratic government of federal polity does an elected government get replaced and the largest majority is not sworn in power? This has happened to Congress in Goa, so was the case in Meghalaya and Manipur,” Sibal said.
He also pointed out how the Centre takes unilateral decisions in case of Niti Ayog and the states do not have a forum where they can interact. Earlier, the states used to come and engage in dialogue, he mentioned.
West Bengal Law Minister Moloy Ghatak, state Chief Secretary H K Dwivedi, Soumendranath Mookherjee, state Advocate General and Vice-Chancellor of West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences Dr Nirmal Kanti Chakrabarty were also speakers at the ‘The Discourse 2022-Modern Federalism-People-Polity & Business.’
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