Rule of law under assault, PM should speak: Congress

The Congress today said the rule of law in India is under assault and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak up on rising incidents of cow vigilantism and moral policing by anti-Romeo squads.
The Congress also wondered why Modi, who speaks on a host of issues during his 'Mann ki Baat' radio programme, has not made any reference to these matters of national concern.
"The prime minister's silence is being misconstrued as tacit endorsement to such elements and an encouragement to them," Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma said, as the party sought an explanation from Modi for being "silent".
"His silence is deafening and most unfortunate. Neither the prime minister nor the home minister have assured the country that this government will not allow what is happening on a daily basis in one or the other state of India," he said.

Sharma, a former Union minister, said the "electoral edge" which the BJP had got in 2014 does not give the prime minister the right to make India a "majoritarian" democracy.
"India's constitutional democracy must be defended and its pluralism respected," he said.

Stating that a "majority government" has the numbers in Lok Sabha, Sharma said everybody has acknowledged the "great victory" of prime minister Modi in 2014 elections.
"But let us not forget 69 per cent people did not vote for the BJP. Electoral edge does not give the prime minister the right to make India a majoritarian democracy. It is the responsibility of the ruling party to protect our constitutional democracy," he said.

The Congress's deputy leader in Rajya Sabha said India's pluralistic, multi-ethnic and multi-religious identity has to be protected and added that the ruling party has a greater responsibility to do this.
He said India is a country which is rule based and rule governed and therefore, the prime minister must tell the national what action he proposes to take.
"You cannot have criminal elements, lumpens, anti-social elements let loose on the citizens of the country. This is affecting India's image besides nurturing an environment of fear and insecurity in India. No growth is possible without peace and social stability," he said.

The Congress leader said stability does not only mean political stability, it also envisaged in the social fabric of a society marked with lack of violence and absence of crime.
"The rule of law is under assault in India today in a very organised manner, in a very concerted manner and it will have long-term consequences for India and that is why, we are asking the prime minister directly," he said.
Sharma was referring to recent instances of killing of people at the hands of cow vigilantes starting from Alwar in Rajasthan and lamented that in recent times, tragic and unfortunate incidents continue to take place.

Sharma also dared the government to make public the GDP growth figures based on the old and new calculations. He said if the old methodology were to be considered, GDP growth rate would be only 4.6 per cent.
"There is a miscalculated euphoria about growth with ministers in the BJP government beating their own drums. Let the government publish GDP numbers from 2004 to 2016-17 as per the previous and new methodology," he said, claiming, "The growth is flat."
He based his assessment of growth on a historic low credit off-take and other weak economic indicators for growth like investment, credit flow, asset and job creation.