As India slipped 10 places in the Democracy Index, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday slammed the BJP-led government accusing it of “eroding” democracy and termed them as the “real tukde tukde gang”.
In a series of tweets, Chidambaram said that India has slipped 10 places in the Democracy Index.
“Anyone who has closely observed the events of the last two years knows that democracy has been eroded and democratic institutions have been debilitated those who are in power are the real ‘tukde tukde’ gang,” he further tweeted.
Anyone who has closely observed the events of the last two years knows that democracy has been eroded and democratic institutions have been debilitated those who are in power are the real ‘tukde tukde’ gang.
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) January 23, 2020
Hitting out at the BJP, Chidambaram said: “The world is alarmed by the direction India is taking. Every patriotic Indian should be alarmed too,” he said in another tweet.
The world is alarmed by the direction INDIA is taking.
Every patriotic INDIAN should be alarmed too.
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) January 23, 2020
His remarks came a day after India fell 10 notches to settle at the 51st rank out of 167 countries on the Democracy Index 2019, a listing of the most and the least democratic nations published annually by The Economist Intelligence Unit, a news and general affairs publication.
“Tukde-tukde” is a term often used by right-wing parties to attack the Left-backed groups and their supporters.
The BJP has been using “tukde tukde gang” reference to target the Congress and others.
Earlier, rasing the poll pitch in Delhi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had called upon the people of the national capital to punish the “tukde-tukde gang” led by the Congress for the violence in the city.
Citing erosion of civil liberties in the country, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) put India 10 ranks lower at the 51st place out of 167 countries in its Democracy Index’s global ranking released on Wednesday.
India’s overall score fell from 7.23 in 2018 to 6.90 in 2019 while the average global score fell from 5.48 in 2018 to 5.44 (on a 0-10 scale). The EIU termed the results as “the worst result since the Democracy Index began in 2006”.
The ranking report was most critical of the Indian government’s move to deploy large numbers of security personnel in J&K and placing local leaders under house arrest before it “stripped the Jammu and Kashmir (J-K) state of its special status by repealing two key constitutional provisions granting it powers of autonomy”.
“Meanwhile, a separate citizenship registration exercise in Assam, a state in north-eastern India, has excluded 1.9m from the final list of the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The vast majority of people excluded from the NRC are Muslims,” the report said.
“The new citizenship law has enraged the large Muslim population, stoked communal tensions and generated large protests in major cities,” the EIU added.
Protests have erupted across the nation with violence and arson emerging from different parts of Delhi, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and the northeastern states of Assam, Tripura and Manipur.
The campus protests have gained massive support across the nation after Delhi Police tear-gassed students of Jamia Millia Islamia University on Sunday night without any permission from the campus authorities.
Several other violent protests have been across the nation against the contentious law.
According to the new law, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities, who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, till December 31, 2014, facing religious persecution there, will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.
The opposition parties have termed the legislation as “unconstitutional” which “is aimed at diverting attention from the burning issues of the common people”.
Those opposing the amended law say it discriminates on the basis of religion and violates the Constitution. They also allege that the CAA, along with the proposed pan-India National Register of Citizens (NRC), is intended to target India’s Muslim community.