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In the background of India's 75th Independence Day as well as the recently concluded Monsoon Session of Parliament, Congress president Sonia Gandhi castigated the Bharatiya Janata Party-led administration over its policies, its repeated diminishing of democracy and its methods of governance.
"After decades of progress towards an India of our dreams, why is our democracy in danger? It is because tangible achievements have been substituted by hollow slogans, event management and brand-building only to benefit those in power... It is because symbolism has triumphed over meaningful action. It is because democracy is sought to be replaced by an autocracy," Gandhi wrote in an article for The Indian Express.
Expounding on her claims and speaking on the Modi government's "disdain for parliamentary processes," she stated:
Underlining the importance of a federal structure of our country, the leader added, "In recent years, states are being deprived of their rightful share of overall revenues through the increasing use of non-shareable cesses. Short-changing states is short-sighted policy, which hollows out our federal structure and hampers implementation of various programmes and schemes."
She also iterated that the "media has been systematically intimidated and arm-twisted into forgetting its responsibility to speak truth to power."
Underlining pertinent issues in the country today, the Congress president went on to note the ongoing farmers' struggle against Centre's three agriculture ordinances as well as one of the worst economic slowdowns in recent history of our country.
"From high taxes on all forms of fuel to the widespread loss of income, the burdens are increasing by the day," the leader wrote.
The leader also stressed on the deteriorating state of healthcare in the nation, as well as its exacerbation in the face of a global health crisis.
Shedding light on the widely reported undermining of democratic freedoms under the Modi regime, Gandhi wrote:
Concluding her column, Gandhi wrote that "we owe it to our freedom fighters to undo this damage to our Republic."
"We need to draw courage from them [our freedom fighters] to take on those who would replace their inclusive, liberating idealism with a narrow, sectarian, worldview overflowing with prejudice and discrimination," the leader opined, saying that in the face of astronomical challenges like climate changes and the COVID-19 pandemic, a "united, harmonious, strong India has a larger role to play on the global stage."
(With inputs from The Indian Express)
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