‘Unite against BJP’

Kolkata, Mar 31: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has written personal letters to non-Bharatiya Janata Party leaders highlighting the “assaults” by the BJP and its government on democracy and constitutional federalism of India.
Ahead of the second phase of polls in the state, Banerjee’s letter, which was released by the Trinamool Congress on Wednesday, seeks to drum up support from opposition leaders by stating how non-BJP states have suffered due to the saffron party led Centre’s actions.
“I am writing this letter to you, and to several leaders of non-BJP parties, to convey my serious concerns over a series of assaults by the BJP and its government at the Centre on democracy and constitutional federalism in India.
Referring to the passage of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill by the two Houses of Parliament, she said that it is an “extremely grave” development.
“With this law, the BJP government at the Centre has snatched away practically all the powers of the democratically elected government of Delhi, and vested them in the hands of the Lt Governor, a nominee of the Centre. The Lt Governor has been made the undeclared Viceroy of Delhi, acting as a proxy for the home minister and the prime minister,” she said.
The three-page letter has been addressed to Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Nationalist Congress Party’s Sharad Pawar, Dravida Munnetra Kazagham’s MK Stalin, Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Tejashwi Yadav, Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray among others.