After the Punjab Assembly session was cancelled, the AAP on Saturday accused Punjab Governor, Banwari Lal Purohit, for infringing upon the State’s democratic structure. The party said that the Governor overstepped upon the sanctity of the institution by asking for the ‘list of business’ of the next session that had been called.
Addressing a press conference in the national Capital, the AAP spokesperson, Saurabh Bhardwaj said that in the last 75 years, there has not been a single such Governor who has infringed upon the institution of the Vidhan Sabha and asked for the List of Business to be placed before him. “I am shocked that despite the presence of senior advisors and officials of the Governor's Secretariat, the Governor of Punjab is overstepping all boundaries. In the case of Delhi too, we have seen the Lt Governor overstep and infringe upon chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's work. Every time this has happened in the last 7 years, the BJP has defended its nominee saying Delhi is not a full state,” said Bharadwaj.
“The Delhi Lt Governor acting upon the behest of the BJP and its Central Government has placed obstacles in every task taken up by CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal.
Now, the Punjab Governor has taken up the same role. The Punjab Governor is placing roadblocks in the elected government's way. He is going against the basic tenets of democracy,” said Bharadwaj.
“If he wants to act like this then there is no point of having a democracy. Is he a Governor of a state of some British Viceroy? Perhaps he thinks of himself as Lord Mountbatten that he can go around dictating a government,” said Bharadwaj.
“Despite giving the permission to hold the session, the Punjab Governor withdrew the permission and in violation of the constitutional rights of the government, the Vidhan Sabha and the speaker, demanded the List of Business to be given to him. There is a certain process of the Legislative Assembly, but leaving behind all democratic values and crossing all the limits, the governor asked for the list,” said AAP MLA, Dilip Pandey, in another press conference.
“How can the country be run like this? After all, how can the governor directly interfere in the working of an elected government like this? That too in the highest temple of democracy, that is, the Legislative Assembly of a state and the Parliament of the country,” he questioned.
“In such a situation, the actions of the Governor or the Lieutenant Governor regarding the running of their session are nothing more than a formality. It is written in the constitution for them that in every situation, only on the advice and consultation of the cabinet, any work has to be done, this is their imperative, this is their requirement, this is their constitutional mandate,” said Pandey.