17:29
Ahead of the Monsoon session of Parliament, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Saturday said MPs who help the BJP garner a two-thirds majority that would allow it to change the Constitution would be "murderers of democracy" whose names would be written in black in history.
He urged political parties to come together to thwart the ruling party's efforts.
The Independent Rajya Sabha MP asserted that if the BJP is unable to garner a two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha to get the Constitution amendment bills passed, it would not be in power in 2029; however, if it succeeds, the opposition would never be able to come to power.
"I want to mention at this point how important this session of Parliament is. I say this in the context of what has been happening over the last few months, as to how 20 MPs of the Trinamool Congress broke away.
"Allegedly, the MPs merged with another party because of the manipulation of interpretations by BJP leaders, who think that Schedule 10 Paragraph 4 allows them to do it. Now they are sitting as MPs of that regional party, which had no presence in Parliament," Sibal said at a press conference here.
The BJP has taken MPs from the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Nationalist Congress Party, and is now trying to do this with other parties, Sibal said, recalling how seven Aam Aadmi Party MPs switched over to the BJP, which had zero MPs from Punjab earlier.
"Why is this being done? Because they know how important this session is for the BJP. Why is it important? Because they believe that if you can buy off people, if you can ensure these kinds of defections, which are per se illegal, you can then perhaps muster up the two-thirds majority pursuant to which they can do anything they want," Sibal said.
The ruling party can then bring the Women's Reservation Bill according to its will and not as the opposition wants on the present strength of Parliament, Sibal said.
"They will then amend the Constitution the way they want because with a two-thirds majority, you can amend any provision. They can do away with the basic structure (of the Constitution). They can do away with the parliamentary form of government. They can ensure that they continue in power in the years to come and never be thrown out of power," Sibal said.
"They can reduce the discretion of judges. They can bring laws to ensure that in the future, we have a completely committed judiciary. They can do what they want," he added.
Sibal said he wants to remind every Member of Parliament who votes to help the BJP get a two-thirds majority that each of their names will be written in "black letters" in the years to come, when the history of this session is written, because they would be seen as having "buried democracy".
