SUCI(C) condemns imposition of President’s rule in Uttarakhand as undemocratic

Comrade Provash Ghosh, General Secretary, SUCI(C), has issued the following statement on 30-03-2016 :—

We join the right-thinking democratic-minded people of the country in condemning the way President’s Rule was hurriedly imposed in Uttarakhand invoking article 356 of the Constitution by BJP-led central government just before a day the Congress-led state government was to face a test of strength in the Assembly following revolt by nine Congress MLAs. It is to be noted that the Nainital High Court after hearing a petition challenging President’s rule has given a verdict that the incumbent Chief Minister should be given a chance to prove his majority in the Assembly on March 31 and thereby has shown how the entire process was unconstitutional and legally unsustainable. Clamping President’s rule in Uttrakhand has come close on the heels of dismissal of Congress-led Arunachal government in the similar manner two months back. Though authors of Constitution held that Article 356 should be applied as a last resort if a situation so arises that a state government cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, the aforesaid article has been frequently abused for dismissing state governments of rival parties either by engineering defection or raising some other bogey. Though it is true that the original culprit in this manipulative political practice of toppling elected governments of the opponents is Congress, one cannot deny today that the BJP appears to be superseding Congress. There is a growing apprehension that several other non-BJP governments are also on the hit list of Central government. All this portends towards the growing trend of establishing total control of one party over the entire country. This when seen together with the growing trend of intolerance, attacks on minorities, attacks on democracy, clamping down on students movement cannot but lead one to the conclusion that there is a menace of rising fascist trends.

We firmly believe that the only deterrent to this naked subversion of democratic principles, norms and laid down procedures can be a surge of a powerful left-democratic movement based on higher culture and ethics that our Party is striving utmost to develop.