SRINAGAR: PDP chief and former J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, pointing to reports of repeated objections by two Election Commissioners, said that there will be no democracy, and India will turn into a banana republic if the electoral process continues to be undermined.
In response to a question on the two commissioners in the Election Commission of India having raised objections 14 times, Mehbooba told reporters, “I feel that both the sibling states -- India and Pakistan -- are trying to undo each other, competing with each other on who can harm their own country the most?”
Referring to India, she said the country is seen as the largest democracy in the world and noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken of India as the “mother of democracy” while abroad.
“But today, they are trying to subvert the very fundamentals of Indian democracy, which is the electoral process, by fudging the electoral rolls, which the two election commissioners have pointed out,” she said.
According to the PDP chief, if the deletion and addition of electoral rolls continues at the behest of BJP, then there are dangers that at some point of time, “India, which is the largest democracy in the world, is going to resemble a banana republic.”
She described the reported objections by the two election commissioners as a “silver lining”, saying, “We still have people like two election commissioners, who have the courage and integrity to question the people in power. I don’t want to take their name at this point. I don’t know what trouble they are going to go through… they may have to face ED and Income Tax raids”.
Pointing to the situation in Pakistan, Mehbooba said, “Look at Pakistan, which goes around the world as a peacemaker and as a mediator of peace while crushing dissent within its country with an iron hand. Detaining Imran Khan's sisters who are unarmed and peacefully protesting just because they are trying to stand up for their brother. What does it say? You are going around the world as a peacemaker, and you are detaining women who have no weapons in their hands.”
She said, unfortunately, in Pakistan, there are no such voices within the establishment who can question the arbitrary detention of Imran Khan's sister.
“It's a very, very sorry state of affairs,” she said.