Panaji (Goa) [India]: Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) President Girish Chodankar on Monday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been “butchering democracy on daily basis”, has no right to “Celebrate Democracy” through the initiatives like Women’s Parliament.
Addressing a press conference at Congress House in Panaji, Chodankar said, “BJP which is killing democracy and democratic institutions on daily basis, has no right to celebrate democracy. This exposes the doublespeak of the BJP.” Referring to the Women’s Parliament, Chodankar said that the Leader of Opposition was not given due respect in the event. “He should have been prominently involved in the event being Leader of Opposition but the entire event was hijacked by BJP to please their workers at taxpayers’ money, he said.
His remarks came after the BJP-led Goa government began celebrating its 60th year of liberation on Monday. The state government celebrated democracy and organised the National Women’s Parliament on November 8 to groom women leaders about the opportunities available for them at both state and Centre levels.
The GPCC Chief said that BJP has also acted in an undemocratic way when it stole away the mandate given to Congress by people after the 2017 assembly election. “In the democratic process, people had given their mandate to Congress but BJP stole it overnight,” he said.
“The Speaker of Legislative Assembly allowed BJP to do midnight dacoity and when we filed disqualification petition, he took 20 months to decide on it. He decided after Supreme Court intervened and that too he gave the order legalizing the illegal merger,” he added.
He said that BJP in the centre and the state have repeatedly disrespected democracy.
Chodankar said that the Legislative Assembly Session was held only for 88 days during the last five years. “For a healthy democracy, they should have held Assembly Session, at least for 200 days,” he said.
