Poll-bound state West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has expressed her disdain over the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2021, cleared recently by the
The letter came a day after polls in WB were kicked off on March 27. Partaking TMC’s primary rivals in the election, the BJP, she said that the latter was spiteful of losing the Delhi elections to the AAP by a huge mandate. “The entire world knows that the Aam Aadmi Party, under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal, resoundingly defeated the BJP in the assembly elections in Delhi n 2014 and 2018. However, unwilling to accept the people’s mandate, the BJP has chosen to govern Delhi by making the Chief Minister subservient to the Lt. Governor,” she wrote.
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Mrs. Banerjee termed the GNCTD Amendment Act as a ‘direct attack on the federal structure of the Indian Republic’ and said that it mocks the democratic structure of the country. She further added, “The Act violates the unambiguous verdict by a five-judge Supreme Court bench in 2018, which upheld the pre-eminence of Delhi’s elected government in all matters other than police, public order, and land.”
The GNCTD Amendment Bill was given assent by the President on March 29 after being cleared in the Parliament in the last days of the Budget session that concluded last week. The Act allows the Lt. Governor of Delhi to supersede the directions given by the elected government. It also puts in place a system that allows Delhi’s ‘government’ to be defined as the Lt. Governor, and not representatives elected by the public.
According to the Act’s Statement Of Purpose, “In order to give effect to the interpretation made by Hon’ble Supreme
In the letter, Mrs. Banerjee also listed out a variety of ‘attacks’ being done by the BJP-led central government on the state governments run by opposition parties. She alleged that by misusing the powers of the governor, the BJP-led NDA government was creating problems for state governments. She added, “Funds transfer to non-BJP run states is deliberately being withheld to reduce the pace of development.”
She concluded her letter by alleging that it was PM Narendra Modi’s ‘authoritarian’ conduct that had led to being worse than it ever was in the history of Independent India.” “There is a clear pattern behind all these developments. The BJP wants to make it impossible for non-BJP parties to exercise their constitutional rights. It wants to downgrade state governments to mere municipalities. In short, BJP wants to establish a one-party authoritarian rule in India,” Mrs. Banerjee added.
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