“To safeguard democracy, our constitution needs to be safeguarded. Liberty, equality, and fraternity cannot be separated from one another. We are all citizens of India and not subjects under any king or emperor. The very essence of democracy is compassion for all,” opined D Raja, General Secretary, Communist Party of India. He was speaking at the Parwana Oration 2023 organised by Parwana Memorial Trust at Bhai Bardhan Auditorium, Parwana Bhawan, Kingsway on Friday evening. CH Venkatachalam, Trustee and General Secretary of All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA); and trustees of Parwana Memorial Trust D S Buche, R S Nerkar, Ramkumar Gupta, BNJ Sharma, Suresh Bobhate and JS Gurway were present on the occasion.

 

Speaking further, D Raja stated that the right wing forces have captured political power in India. “Why people voted for them, needs to be understood first. Today, an attack is made on democracy. The functioning of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), creating personality cult, and grabbing of media by corporate giants, to conditioning people’s minds is posing grave challenges to the democracy.” When Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar was drafting the constitution of India, he was under pressure to declare India as a Hindu nation. However, Dr Ambedkar rejected the idea stating that India could not become a theocratic nation, Raja said. “There was also pressure to declare the government as Presidential system. Dr Ambedkar also refused it claiming it will give rise to dictatorship.