BY TC News Desk
Agartala, July 18, 2022: Former Chief Minister and leader of the opposition Manik Sarkar on Monday cast his vote along with his CPIM MLAs for the 16th Presidential Election at the premises of Tripura Legislative Assembly here.
Speaking with reporters at the assembly premises here after exercising his democratic right, Sarkar said “The president is the country’s chief. A nation’s first citizen. This person is the custodian of the constitution. But the constitution is being seriously affected. The main content that is parliamentary democracy is under attack. The exercise of polling cannot be performed in a free and fair way.”
“The decision of the recent past that the Parliament session may have started from today there the words which cannot be pronounced had been finalised. Now, the parliamentarians have to speak or address by taking the list on their hands or else, his or her words will be stopped. Not only this, no protest can be staged within the boundary of the Parliament. Even, no protest can be staged by sitting in front of the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi. The words or phrases which are disliked by the ruling party, as we have been since our childhood that many MPs express their grief inside the house of the Parliament over any issue, now, it has been decided such kind of activity cannot be staged in the Parliament”, he added.
Former CM said “Hence, it is understood that from which side the attack is being staged. At present, the attack is coming from two sides- firstly the history is Indian parliament is trying to be messed up, even the history of nation’s independence is trying to be forged and secondly, dismantling the constitution. This ruling party is following the ideologies of Hindutva and if this is implemented, then what kind of constitution is required. From all these circumstances, the post of the President is highly significant.””From this election, whosoever is elected, we will hope that after getting elected, he or she is no more the representative of any political party. He or she is the representative of people, citizen and the nation, and his or her first and foremost duty is to protect the constitution. From this point of view, there is a significance of Presidential election.Now, we have casted our votes. After the announcement of the election, the calculation has been started,” he added.
