Undeclared emergency in India: KCR

Hyderabad: Pushing up his blistering attack against the BJP in general and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in particular by several notches, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Sunday said the country was in the grip of an undeclared emergency, citing various political developments that he said smacked of the dictatorial approach.

“Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi officially declared an emergency in the country, while under the present BJP disposition now, an undeclared emergency prevails in the country,” the Chief Minister said, addressing the media at Pragathi Bhavan here.

Stating that the call for a change in government at the Centre was not politically-motivated to dethrone any individual or party, Chandrashekhar Rao said it was a move borne out of the necessity to save the country from religious fanatics and hate-mongers, who were out not only to destroy the secular fabric of the nation but had also pushed the country to the brink of an economic disaster. “The exercise to bring in a non-BJP government is to ensure people’s empowerment and development of the nation,” he added.

In perhaps the most scathing attack yet against the BJP government at the Centre, the Chief Minister wondered how serious corruption charges against several opposition leaders vanished the moment they donned the saffron scarf. To buttress his argument, a ‘before and after’ video clip of several leaders such as Sujana Chowdhary, CM Ramesh, Hemant Biswa Sarma and Mukul Roy, among others, was shown. Alluding to a popular detergent advertisement, he asked: “Is the BJP washing powder Nirma?”

He also declared that he was willing to dissolve the State Assembly if the BJP was willing to dissolve Parliament and go for the elections. “The Narendra Modi government should go and a non-BJP government should come,” he said, for the progress of the nation.

In a marathon press conference that lasted for nearly two-and-half hours, Chandrashekhar Rao said under the BJP rule, those who were speaking against the Central government were being attacked and threatened using Central agencies, media organisations and even social media cells. Similarly, the Central agencies were being misused to harass genuine companies for the benefit of BJP-friendly businessmen, and soon after these companies or individuals fell in line, the cases were automatically being shelved.

Referring to the Supreme Court’s strongly-worded observations on now-suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma for her controversial remarks on the Prophet, the Chief Minister appreciated the two judges for their observations. “Justice Surya Kant and Justice Pardiwala, I salute you. Please keep up the same spirit to save India. The judiciary has to save the country from these traitors, demons and dictators,” he said.

He accused the BJP of using its power to influence some retired judges and civil servants to write a letter to the Chief Justice of India against the Supreme Court judges, terming that the top court has crossed the ‘Lakshmana Rekha’. He termed it as an abuse of power to influence the judiciary which was sheer arrogance of the BJP leadership.

The Chief Minister lashed out at the BJP for trying to threaten the democratically elected governments as well as the judiciary by all means. Taking a jibe at the BJP leaders threatening to oust the TRS government in the State with ‘Kattappas’ and ‘Eknath Shindes’ to ensure that Chandrashekhar Rao would meet the same fate as Uddhav Thackeray, he wondered if the BJP was a “manufacturer of Eknath Shindes”. “What’s the reason for this arrogance that they can topple governments?” he asked, and revealed how the new government “gifted” the people with a 20 per cent power tariff hike in Maharashtra.

He also took a dig at the ‘double-engine’ growth being promised by the Prime Minister and other BJP leaders in the State. He stated that all the non-BJP ruled States such as Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Delhi were performing better than the BJP-ruled States of Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka. “Thanks to Narendra Modi, we accept your proposal for a double-engine sarkar. The people of India should decide which double engine should come — BJP or non-BJP. The facts and figures very clearly say that India requires a non-BJP double-engine government,” he said.

Chandrashekhar Rao declared that the TRS was ready for early polls, if the BJP was ready to dissolve the Parliament paving the way to conduct elections simultaneously for both the Assembly and Lok Sabha.