'Bulldozer justice has replaced natural justice,' says Cong's P Chidambaram

Former Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Monday said that he has five major issues with the current NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The issues are related to constitutional governance, defence and security, economy, social conflicts and divisions, inflation, unemployment, inequality and poverty, Chidambaram said at a press conference in Mumbai.

Talking about constitutional governance, he said that there is a rising concern whether the country is being governed according to the constitution. The Modi government has spread its assumed legislative footprint into subjects that are legitimate concerns of state government, he opined.

“Governors of non-BJP ruled states are acting like Viceroys. Parliamentary rules and conventions are violated. Debate in Parliament is becoming rare and even calls for vote by division on important Bills have been brushed aside,” said Chidambaram.

“Institutions that are the independent pillars of a democracy have been weakened or subordinated to serve the ends of the central government. While there is an appearance of a democracy, the tree of democracy has been hollowed out,” he added.

Chidambaram also spoke about the defence and security of the country and said that there is abundant evidence that Chinese troops are very much in Indian-held territory.

According to Chidambaram, the Chinese are building defence infrastructure as well as new settlements along the border.

“More Chinese troops have been positioned on the India-China border. The reach of Indian patrols has been curtailed since the clashes in the Galwan valley in June 2020,” he said.  

He also expressed his concerns over the increasing military co-operation between China and Pakistan on Indian borders.

“China-Pakistan axis has become stronger and the security threat has spread to every part of our border in the west, north and east. Our relations with Pakistan are more fraught than ever before. Parliament is in the dark about the actual situation and has not been allowed to debate the security threats to the country,” said Chidambaram.

Economy was the third issue on Chidambaram’s list. He said that economy is growing modestly at a much-reduced pace despite International Monetary Fund (IMF) giving FY24 growth rate projection for India at 5.9 per cent, making it the fastest-growing economy in the world.

“Key economic indicators are pointing downward and there is low confidence that the economy will reach the high-growth path. The first three quarters of 2022-23 recorded growth rates of 13.2, 6.3 and 4.4 per cent, a declining trend,” said Chidambaram.

“The all-India unemployment rate is currently at 7.45 per cent and the labour force participation rate is about 48 per cent. Prices are elevated and people are consuming less,” Chidambaram added.

The fourth point on the list was social conflicts and divisions, which Chidambaram believes that social strife, communal conflicts, intolerance, hate, fear and deep divisions among the people have increased under the NDA government.

Chidamabaram said, “The BJP and/or its affiliated organisations have fuelled these trends with hyper-nationalism, vigilantism, religious intolerance, vandalism, hate speeches and extra-judicial actions.

“Bulldozer justice has replaced natural justice. We are pained and shocked that the leadership of the NDA government has remained silent while the situation in the country has deteriorated year after year,” he added.

He also pointed out the alarming situation in Manipur where communal violence has taken over 75 lives in recent weeks.

The last point on Chidamabaram’s list was "inflation, unemployment, inequality and poverty". He started by explaining that if you knock on the door of any average family, they will tell you how the cost of living has increased significantly due to persistent inflation and acute scarcity of jobs.

“The growing inequality between the super-rich and the poor has exposed the skewed economic policies of the NDA government,” Chidambaram said.

He added, “There are 169 dollar-billionaires in India today even as 22.4 crore people (16 per cent of the population) are poor according to the Global Multi-dimensional Poverty Index.”

He concluded by saying that Karnataka elections demonstrated how wrong the Prime Minister, his government and his party were in their assessment of the political an social situation of the state.

“Governance and policies in a secular, democratic country must give rise to a tide that will lift all boats. In that view, the NDA government has totally failed in the last nine years,” said Chidambaram

“What is worse is that the government does not even make an effort to correct its mistakes and govern for all the people. It is our duty as an Opposition party to raise these issues and I am happy I got an opportunity to do so in Mumbai,” he added.