ഡൽഹിയിൽ സി.ജെ.പി നടത്തിയ പ്രതിഷേധത്തെ അടിച്ചമർത്തിയ കേന്ദ്രസർക്കാർ നടപടിക്കെതിരെ രാജ് താക്കറെ രംഗത്ത്. മോദിയും അമിത് ഷായും ഏകാധിപത്യം കാണിക്കുകയാണെന്നും പ്രതിഷേധിക്കാനുള്ള അവകാശം തട്ടിയെടുക്കാൻ ആർക്കും അധികാരമില്ലെന്നും അദ്ദേഹം പറഞ്ഞു. ജനാധിപത്യത്തെ കശാപ്പ് ചെയ്യുന്ന ഭരണകൂടത്തിന്റെ ധാർഷ്ട്യത്തിനെതിരെ ശക്തമായ പ്രതിഷേധം ഉയരണമെന്നും അദ്ദേഹം ആവശ്യപ്പെട്ടു.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Saturday accused the Centre of suppressing protests and civil liberties, alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were displaying an "extreme degree of dictatorship" by cracking down on protesters ahead of the Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP) protest at Jantar Mantar.
"Bharat Ratna Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar had said that 'no nation can be grateful at the cost of its liberty'. He made this extremely significant remark while presenting the draft of the Indian Constitution in November 1949. This sentence has to be uttered once again today because an extreme degree of dictatorship is seated in the minds and heads of the Modi-Shah duo," Thackeray said in a social media post.
Accusing PM Modi and Shah of capturing "all the institutions of the country to attain power", Thackeray said, "If protesters are going to be crushed and arrested simply for opposing this arrogance of power, then their lawless tyranny must be uprooted from this country from top to bottom."
The CJP had called a protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Hundreds of people, including Opposition leaders like former Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, were picked up and transported to makeshift detention centres across the capital.
'How can you snatch away right to protest?'
The MNS chief questioned the Centre's response to demonstrators. "Are there no longer supposed to be protests in this country? Are you not supposed to be asked questions? Who are you to snatch away the right to protest?" he asked.
Thackeray alleged that the Centre was using the Delhi Police to crush protesters and harass women journalists covering the protest. He also criticised the government for shutting down Metro services, blocking roads, cutting off internet services, and detaining CJP protesters from airplanes.
"'What kind of method is this? Twenty- and thirty-year-old young men and women in the country are restless and cannot see their future, which is why they are taking to the streets peacefully to protest, and you are trying to crush them? With what face will Modi go around the world now and tell people that there is a democracy in our country? Is this what democracy looks like?" Thackeray asked.
'Shouldn't Gyanesh Kumar resign?'
Thackeray also questioned the government's support of Gyanesh Kumar. "'Is it because Gyanesh Kumar and the election officials before him are your pathways to seizing power? The Election Commission is an autonomous institution; if its chief has created chaos, shouldn't he resign? Furthermore, what is wrong with the demand that the entire electoral machinery must be honest and transparent?" he asked.
"My right to vote is being snatched away, or I am unable to know where and to whom my vote is going. Shouldn't I also have the right to express my anger at this insult to my vote? Or are the two men at the top afraid that if Gyanesh Kumar is forced to resign, he will reveal who the masterminds behind the vote theft are, which would expose the entire sham of their power so far," Thackeray said.
Saying that the Indian Constitution gives citizens the right to peaceful demonstration, Thackeray said, "Why do you want to crush this right? Just yesterday, even the Supreme Court asked, 'Why use a hammer to kill a fly?'"
'Learn from the past, read about Gandhi'
The MNS chief also accused PM Modi and Shah of adopting double standards on protests, claiming they supported agitations in Gujarat when politically beneficial but cracked down on anti-government protests while in power. "It is clearly evident that they are hypocritical and double-faced," he said.
"There is a documentary on Netflix called How to Become a Tyrant; it seems Amit Shah is probably watching this documentary seriously every day. Instead of that, he should read a bit about Mahatma Gandhi -- who hailed from the very same state of Gujarat you come from -- and his peaceful protests and the freedom movement," Thackeray said.
Warning the government against curbing democratic rights, the MNS chief said, "When a ruler with a dictatorial mindset is thrown out of power, recall examples from around the world of how the public treats them. Leave the world aside; even if you read India's history, you will realise that where this country broke the arrogance of the Mughals, the Portuguese, and the British -- who boasted that the sun never sets on their empire -- do you rulers really think the public here will not break your arrogance?"