New Delhi: CPM state secretary M V Govindan has lent support to embattled Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who the parliament swiftly disqualified from Lok Sabha membership the other day after his conviction by a court in a 2019 defamation case.
However, Govindan saw little chance of a by-poll being announced in the Wayanad constituency, represented by the Opposition leader, but, said in the event of an election there, the CPM too will contest from the Kerala seat, which is known as a traditional fort of the Congress.
Govindan, while speaking to reporters here, also hit out at the state Congress leadership, accusing them of taking a “soft Hindutva approach”.
“The court (Surat) order is not the end of it. The Centre thinks it can target anyone and has made a conscious interference (here). The BJP has taken a stance it doesn’t want to hear the sound of the Opposition in the Parliament. All the opposition parties will protest in unison against the (unjust) action taken against Rahul Gandhi,” M V Govindan said.
The CPM leader had come out in the open, opposing Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification soon after the Parliament's decision in this regard. He made clear his stance in a Facebook post.
“I strongly protest the move to disqualify Rahul Gandhi. We should defend ourselves against it to ensure that society doesn’t get confined to the chains of autocracy forever. The BJP government describes itself as the ‘mother of democracy’ in ad taglines, but in reality, the party is turning the country into a slaughterhouse of democracy,” he wrote.
“The move is part of the BJP’s attempt to silence the Opposition parties at any cost. This is besides the frequent targeting of non-BJP-ruled State Governments by misusing central agencies like the ED and the CBI. Through such acts, the saffron party is openly challenging the democratic system in the country. Strong protests should be staged across the country against such autocratic acts,” Govindan lashed out.
Earlier, Opposition leader and Congress MP from Wayanad Rahul Gandhi was disqualified by the Parliament from the membership of Lok Sabha the other day after a Surat court awarded him two years' imprisonment in a defamation case.