Oppn write to PM over misuse of central agencies, Cong stays away

Leaders of nine opposition parties, including four chief ministers  have written a joint letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging "blatant misuse" of central agencies against the members of the opposition. The signatories of the letter are-Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Bannerjee, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Sharad Pawar (NCP), Farooq Abdullah (Jammu & Kashmir National Conference), Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena, UBT) and Akhilesh Yadav of Samajwadi Party. The Congress has stayed away from the letter signed by opposition leaders.

“The blatant misuse of central agencies against the members of the opposition appears to suggest that we have transitioned from being a democracy to an autocracy… the misuse of central agencies and constitutional offices like that of the Governor - to settle scores outside of the electoral battlefield is strongly condemnable as it does not bode well for our democracy,” the letter said. They expressed their concerns over the deteriorating image of central agencies. Citing examples of Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, former TMC leader Suvendu Adhikari, the leaders across different Opposition parties alleged that the “investigation agencies go slow” on cases of those who join the BJP. "Out of the total number of key politicians booked, arrested, raided or interrogated by the investigation agencies under your administration since 2014, the maximum belongs to the opposition. Interestingly, investigation agencies go slow on cases against opposition politicians who join the BJP," the letter said.

Nine Opposition leaders including Arvind Kejriwal have written to PM Modi on the arrest of former Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia in the excise policy case. They have stated that the action appears to suggest that "we have transitioned from being a democracy to an autocracy". pic.twitter.com/ohXn3rNuxI

— ANI (@ANI) March 5, 2023

"Since 2014, there has been a marked rise in the number of raids conducted, cases lodged against and arrest of the opposition leaders. Be it Lalu Prasad Yadav (Rashtriya Janata Dal), Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena), Azam Khan (Samajwadi Party), Nawab Malik, Anil Deshmukh (NCP), Abhishek Banerjee (TMC), central agencies have often sparked suspicion that they were working as extended wings of the ruling dispensation at the centre. In many such cases, the timings of the cases lodged or arrests made have coincided with elections making it abundantly clear that they were politically motivated," the opposition leaders said in the letter.