kolkata: Former Congress leader and Member of Parliament Kapil Sibal, on Saturday, said that the country under the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) rule is moving away from cooperative federalism to a coercive unilateralism.
Veteran Advocate Sibal was speaking at an event organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Government of West Bengal, AQUILAW and the West Bengal National University of Juridical Studies (NUJS). It focused on the evolution of Modern Federalism in the Indian landscape and its effect on people, polity and business.
The state Minister for Law, Judicial and Public Works Moloy Ghatak, state Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi, state Advocate General Soumendra Nath Mookherjee and WBNUJS Vice-Chancellor Professor Nirmal Kanti Chakravarti delivered addresses at the event.
In his keynote address, Sibal talked about the different facets through which the Union overpowers the State when it comes to decision making. He elucidated on Article 3, which gives space for the power structure to be changed in the state as per the decision of the parliament and Article 356, which gives the Union the emergency power. According to Sibal, the federalism that one sees now has moved away from cooperative and become coercive unilateralism. "We need to get our act together. There are two institutions that can make it happen: one is the media and another is the judiciary. These are the only safeguards we have. If these safeguards weaken then the future is bleak," Sibal said.
Conforming to Sibal's notion, the minister-in-charge Ghatak talked about judiciary and political influences there. "The political influence in the appointment of High Court and Supreme Court judges cannot be ruled out. Lack of independence in the judiciary system cannot be ruled out. This high time that the judicial system should be strengthened as one should realize that an independent judiciary is the basic feature of our constitution and cooperative federalism," he said.
When asked about the recent order on the ban of protests in Parliament, Sibal said, "Soon a day might come when they might us to stop protests across the country. If someone protests, they are declared anti-national. Peaceful protest is part of our constitutional right, why should it be banned in parliament, I do not understand."
According to a circular by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, demonstrations, dharna and religious ceremonies cannot be held in the precincts of the Parliament House.