New Delhi: As protests demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar continued to rock several cities including Delhi and Mumbai, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju accused the Opposition of executing a “larger conspiracy to weaken India as a nation”.
According to Rijiju, Opposition parties launched targeted strikes against democratic and constitutional institutions as they were disillusioned by repeated electoral defeats.
Rijiju made a serious charge, claiming that the Opposition has deployed specialised groups to derail the nation’s progress.
“They have created groups amongst these Opposition ranks. There is a group which is attacking the judiciary. There are known faces, the lawyers and left-leaning activists and all, they are committed to their attack on the judiciary. If any good judgment comes from the Supreme Court, High Courts in the interest of the nation, they will term that as weakening the democratic principles and weakening the independence of the judiciary,” Rijiju told CNN-News18.
“They think that it is favouring the government and which is not good for the country. That narrative they’ve started building. So, they constantly attack the judges and the judiciary. Now, these days you must have seen this gang, they have started attacking the individual judges also,” said Rijiju.
“Then there is a second group which are attacking the other constitutional authorities like the Election Commission of India and various other bodies including ED, CBI, and there are various important bodies. They wanted to discredit the nature and character of those institutions so that people will start questioning whatever good work these bodies will do,” Rijiju elaborated.
The minister further alleged that anti-India elements were working with foreign players to spread unrest.
“They have another group which spreads fake news and generates fear and discontentment amongst the minds of young people. And these same people will go abroad, meet with the anti-India elements, get the support from them, and then question the GDP figures, they will start questioning the democratic principles, the credibility of all India’s democratic success and all. So, in the three fronts, they have been attacking India. So, it’s a larger conspiracy to weaken India as a nation,” the minister said.
Rijiju went on to say that the SIR-related protests were part of this conspiracy.
“If you are a genuine voter and if your name has been deleted, you will write to the authorities, seek corrective measures that are available. But without any document to suddenly raise a bogie and questioning Election Commission of India, is totally working to a design with full backing by anti-India elements abroad,” he said.