'One nation one election' part of Sangh Parivar's hidden agenda alleges Kerala CM

    Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 18 (PTI) Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday accused the union government of having a hidden agenda behind its stand on 'one nation, one election' to weaken the country's federal system.
    The Sangh Parivar is making a clandestine effort to change the present electoral politics in India into presidential mode, he alleged in a statement.
    The Left veteran further alleged that the "one election" slogan was designed to sabotage the diverse nature of India's parliamentary democracy.
    Vijayan's remarks come in the wake of the Union Cabinet's approving the proposal for 'one nation, one election' as recommended by the Ramnath Kovind panel.
    The high-level committee had recommended simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies as the first step, followed by synchronised local body polls within 100 days.
    The panel had also proposed setting up an 'Implementation Group' to look into the execution of the recommendations made by the committee.
    Pointing out that each state has a different situation and background, Vijayan said holding elections mechanically without taking into account the political issues being cropped up there or imposing the Central rule sabotaging the people's mandate would destroy democracy.
    He further said the union government had given approval to the Kovind committee report soon after Home Minister Amit Shah recently announced that 'one nation, one election' would be implemented during the tenure of the present government at the Centre.
    The BJP-led union government has a hidden agenda behind its stand on 'one nation, one election' to weaken the country's federal system, he charged.
    Vijayan also urged the democratic society of the country to come forward against the Sangh Parivar's alleged move to "sabotage" the parliamentary democratic system of the country and even the very concept of India.
    Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, while refusing to make any political statements about the 'One Nation, One Election' Bill, said the central government must have enacted a rule in their wisdom to avoid the continuous process of elections occurring in one part of the country or another.
    He, however, said that the Centre might have gone through a discussion about the bill.

    Talking to the media on the sidelines of an event here, Khan said the decision would have been influenced by the continuous election process that took place in many parts of the country at different times.
    Taking a jibe at Vijayan, who had accused Sangh Parivar of bringing in the bill to take the country to a presidential rule, Khan said the Chief Minister must be very close to the RSS to know about their secret agenda.
    "You know secret things when you are close to somebody. So he must be very close to the RSS to know their secret agenda," the Governor said.
    He said the political parties have every right to give their opinion on the issue.
    "I am sure that their opinions would also be taken into consideration," the Governor said.
    Meanwhile, Congress Working Committee member and Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor also strongly opposed nod to the high-level committee's recommendations for simultaneous elections, describing it as part of a larger agenda by the BJP to impose uniformity in the name of unity. He said that it will not work in a pluralistic country like India.

    He also said that to bring uniformity, they would require 18 separate constitutional amendments, many of which would require ratification by the states, and hoped that the BJP would not have the two-third majority in both houses for Constitutional amendments.
    Terming the move as a decision that would lead to chaos, Tharoor said that state governments elected this year or next year would have their terms cut short if the government aims to hold uniform elections in 2029.
    "If you want one nation, one election in 2029, will they not go to the Supreme Court and protest that this is unconstitutional? They have been elected for five years. Why should they serve a shorter term?" Tharoor asked.
    "The Americans have this lovely expression; if it ain't broke, don't fix it. If something is working as best it can, it's not actually broken. Why do you want to try and create a new problem by repairing something that isn't broken? That is the situation the BJP is plunging the nation into," Tharoor told PTI.
    
    He said that he hoped that the government will first give the standing committee an opportunity to go through it, line by line and clause by clause.
    "When it comes to Parliament, there's definitely going to be a very strong discussion. I'm not optimistic that the BJP will get a two-thirds majority in both houses for constitutional amendments. Not at all I am confident that half the states will pass it in the present concept," Tharoor added.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)