Madhya Pradesh Rajya Sabha row: Democratic values being ‘killed under pressure’, says Amit Chavda

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is resorting to every possible tactic to suppress democracy and stifle the voice of the Opposition, said Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Amit Chavda.

Reacting to the rejection of Congress Rajya Sabha candidate Meenakshi Natarajan’s nomination papers in Madhya Pradesh, he said the decision was “not merely an administrative step” but “a killing of democratic values under political pressure.”

Mr. Chavda alleged that when the BJP is unable to compete politically in the electoral arena, it resorts to manipulation, pressure tactics, misuse of investigative agencies, and subversion of democratic processes. He said the incident clearly shows that the BJP is “so fearful of the Opposition that it cannot even accept fair elections.”

The Congress, he added, strongly opposes this “undemocratic and authoritarian mindset” and will continue its fight at every level to ensure that democracy is not held hostage to what he called BJP’s conspiracies, while protecting the rights of the people.