NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi and BJP came under fire over “assault on secularism“, with opposition parties in Lok Sabha accusing them of spreading fear among minorities through attacks on the communities and their religious places. They asked the PM to not be the prisoner of his “party’s agenda” of division and hatred.
While Congress MP Sukhjinder Randhawa slammed govt for “lack of attention” to Pakistan’s proxy war in Punjab, and for blocking protesting farmers from coming to Delhi, DMK MP TR Baalu hit out at govt for the President’s speech to Parliament skipping the mention of “secularism and socialism”, which is the “heart and soul” of the Constitution.
Baalu said the situation for minorities and the poor is grimmer than in the past, and they feel they have been left out. Mentioning theGujarat riots and lynching incidents, he said the worrying backdrop demanded that the President mention “secularism and socialism” in her speech, but their omission showed “govt is allergic” to the two principles. “So, Constitution Day is mere tokenism,” he said.
TMC’s Kalyan Banerjee demanded a relook at Article 361which bars criminal cases against governors, alleging that morals of appointees to Raj Bhavans are under question, but states are unable to act against their “breach of morality”, in what appeared to be an allusion to Bengal governor who is at loggerheads with Mamata Banerjee govt. The TMC MP said the country’s secular fabric is at stake in the last decade because of BJP’s “highly communal concept, highly aggressive form of Hinduism”, while there has been abrogation of fundamental rights at the Centre’s hands.
