Uttarakhand: Assault on Democracy

Date: 
Monday, March 28, 2016

 

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

 

The dismissal of the Harish Rawat government and the imposition of President’s rule in Uttarakhand is a shameless assault on democracy and a blatant violation of the constitutional norms. The fact that the Central action has taken place a day before the Chief Minister was to test his majority on the floor of the assembly as asked by the Governor, makes this intervention patently illegal and unconstitutional.

 

The imposition of President’s rule in Uttarakhand and the earlier episode in Arunachal Pradesh shows that the Modi government is utilising Article 356 to topple governments run by the opposition. This should not be allowed. While the basic remedy is to scrap Article 356 itself from the Constitution, the Supreme Court should take up the matter on a priority basis to ensure that the letter and spirit of the Bommai judgement is adhered to.