Former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh Kamal Nath has written to Prime Minister Modi, seeking to attract the latter’s attention to the "undemocratic pandemic’ in the country, where "the federal system of India was being attacked constantly and opposition governments in states being toppled immorally".
Veteran Congress leader Nath, who lost power in Madhya Pradesh in March after 22 Congress MLAs led by Jyotiraditya Scindia defected to BJP, mentioned the political upheaval in MP while the COVID-19 pandemic was raging, and the role of BJP leaders in toppling his government, in the letter written on Thursday evening.
The ex-CM then added that his worries were not limited to toppling of the government in Madhya Pradesh but the fact that the democratic system in the country was facing turbulence and it was suspected that the focal point of this lay in the centre (central government).
Nath further said in the letter that he hoped that the prime minister will prove his suspicion wrong and come forth to save the flailing reputation of Indian democracy and will not include any such opportunist leaders who face allegations of trading democratic values in his party or government.
Kamal Nath’s letter came on a day when the 25th MLA of Congress resigned his seat and joined BJP in past five months. It is also close on the heels of letter of Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot who had written to Modi about bid to destabilise his government and the role of Union minister and BJP leader Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in the proceedings.
On his part, Kamal Nath said in the letter that toppling the elected government in Madhya Pradesh was one of the most abominable instances of the Indian democracy. “When on one side the entire humanity was fighting a battle of its existence against COVID-19 pandemic, the senior leaders of [Madhya Pradesh] BJP took away several ministers and MLAs including the erstwhile health minister to Bangalore in a bid to topple the MP government and consequently pushed the citizens of the state into the pandemic. It is also in public discussion that several opportunist, selfish, greedy and tempter leaders of the state did not allow lockdown to be imposed till March 24 to ensure fall of the Congress government. Even now, the BJP is luring opposition MLAs and getting them to resign their seats and join the BJP. Citizens are being saddled with burden of by-polls through these immoral actions,” Nath said in the letter.
Nath also invoked Babasaheb Ambedkar, saying that due to the great leader’s sustained efforts, India got a federal democratic structure which gives separate autonomies to states and the centre and it is this federal structure that gives Indian democracy a special identity in the world. But this federal structure is under attack by the way of toppling of opposition governments in the state, Nath said.
