Telangana: Stop the witch-hunt

Hyderabad: Alleging blatant misuse of Central agencies against the leaders of Opposition, leaders of several non-BJP parties, including BRS president and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, wrote a joint letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing concern over the manner in which the BJP-led government had transitioned the country from democracy to autocracy. They also alleged that the Centre was misusing the office of Governor to settle scores outside the electoral battlefield.

The signatories of the letter are TS Chief Minister KCR, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Sharad Pawar (NCP), Farooq Abdullah (Jammu & Kashmir National Conference), Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena, UBT) and Akhilesh Yadav of Samajwadi Party.

Strongly condemning the attitude of Modi government, they said it does not bode well for democracy. Referring to the arrest of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia by the CBI in connection with the irregularities in Delhi liquor policy, the leaders said the charges against the AAP leader were "outrightly baseless and smack of a political conspiracy". They said Sisodia's arrest has enraged the people across the country. The Delhi Dy CM is recognised globally for transforming Delhi's school education.

His arrest will be cited worldwide as an example of a political witch-hunt and further confirm what the world was only suspecting that India's democratic values stand threatened under an authoritarian BJP regime, they alleged.

Citing Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and former TMC leaders Suvendu Adhikari and Mukul Roy as examples, the leaders claimed that the investigation agencies go slow on cases against the politicians, who join the BJP.

"Since 2014, there has been a marked rise in the number of raids conducted, cases lodged against and arrest of the Opposition leaders. Be it Lalu Prasad Yadav (Rashtriya Janata Dal), or Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena), Azam Khan (Samajwadi Party), Nawab Malik, Anil Deshmukh (NCP), Abhishek Banerjee (TMC), Central agencies have often sparked suspicion that they were working as extended wings of the ruling party at the Centre," they said.

They alleged that the agencies have their priorities misplaced. Following the publication of an international forensic financial research report, SBI and LIC have reportedly lost over Rs 78,000 crore in market capitalisation of their shares due to exposure to a certain firm, they alleged.

Pointing to the Governors of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Telangana and Lt Governor of Delhi, the leaders charged the offices of these Governors with acting in violation of the constitutional provisions and frequently hindering the governance of the state.