To strike sympathy chords in the wake of the Centre dismissing the Congress Government and imposing President’s Rule, sacked Chief Minister Harish Rawat and the State PCC president Kishore Upadhyay embarked on a foot march in Dehradun on Thursday. The party brass said the march was meant to vent anger of the people against the BJP’s act of destabilising a democratically elected Government.
In a bid to gather a martyr’s halo around his head, Harish Rawat said that he was reaching out to the people at large to seek justice. The people had elected the Government and he was ready to bow out gracefully if the people wanted him out. “But the Centre playing shenanigans to depose a democratic government would go down history as the butcher of democracy,” he said.
Reiterating his resolve to go for a day’s fast, the former CM said it was meant to articulate protest against the Centre seeking to do away with the budget -2016-17. “It clearly firms up a roadmap to facilitate all-round development of all the weaker communities of the society like women, SC and the minority. They are hell-bent on killing the budget as it is one that provides adequate funds to execute the developmental projects I have rolled out for the past few months,” he said.
Taking potshots at BJP, Rawat said the saffron party has always been a champion of fascism. “Now the face is emerging clearly from behind the façade. They would not hesitate to subvert the Constitution if it suits its sinister design,” Rawat said. “Now, my last refuge is the people of the State. They are supreme in a functioning democracy. They must show their collective prowess to show the door to the conspirators,” he said. He said if required, he would embark on more such foot marches in the coming days as part of the party’s fight against the looming challenge of Fascism.