West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday waded into controversy over the political turmoil in Rajasthan and alleged that the BJP government at the Centre was destabilizing the opposition-ruled state. Taunting the BJP, Banerjee asked them to scrap the country’s federal structure and create a “one nation one party” system. She has upped the ante at a time when the Congress has alleged that the BJP was behind the attempt to topple its government in Rajasthan. The rebellion by former deputy CM Sachin Pilot is threatening to bring down the Congress government in the state.
The BJP has washed off its hand saying it is an internal matter of the Congress. However, the Congress has alleged involvement of BJP leaders in luring Congress MLAs after an alleged audio of MLAs being lured with money surfaced. After Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan is the third Congress-ruled state that is on the verge of collapse. It is easy for the BJP to shrug off the responsibility by blaming the opposition MLAs for defecting. However, there is no denying that allurement was on offer. They lured the oppositions and successfully brought down government after government. Even though it may be yielding them immediate political gains, the BJP is setting a dangerous precedent. Using power at the Centre to bring down opposition-ruled state governments is against the federal structure of the country. In future the BJP might also be at the receiving end of such culture and at that time perhaps they will have no justification to oppose such activities. The beauty of Indian democracy lies in its strong federal structure. This should be maintained at any cost.