Can't accept if someone says secularism is bad, democracy dangerous: Mamata Banerjee
Kolkata (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asserted that she cannot accept if somebody says that secularism is bad or democracy is dangerous.
She claimed that federalism in the country has been "totally bulldozed", alleging that several states were not getting their shares of the GST collected.
"If somebody says that secularism is bad, equality is unthinkable, democracy is dangerous and federal structure is a disaster, we cannot accept it," she said.
The chief minister said that if someone says that the Constitution needs to be changed, then it is to please some ideology or some vision.
Speaking at 'The Telegraph' national debate on 'This house believes India does not need a new Constitution', a video of which she shared on her Facebook page on Saturday, Banerjee questioned whether India is heading towards a presidential form of election.
Banerjee said that the spirit of the Constitution is its preamble.
The chief minister said that the Constitution of the country was drafted very diligently by taking care of democracy, federalism and secularism.
Banerjee said that the fine balance between the fundamental rights and the country's sovereignty should not be damaged.
"If the Constitution will only be run by the agency, for the agency and of the agency, we cannot accept that," she said, adding, "Constitution is of the people, by the people and for the people".
"I don't have any right to speak. If I say strongly, tomorrow the ED (Enforcement Directorate) will come to my house," she said.
Banerjee said in a sarcastic tone that she has worked with several prime ministers from Rajiv Gandhi to Manmohan Singh, but has not seen "such a good prime minister", without taking the name of Narendra Modi.
Stating that the TMC maintains political courtesy, she said that her party respects all political parties and leaders.
Recalling that Dr B R Ambedkar was elected to the Constituent Assembly from Bengal, she said that his ideals and vision led the foundation of a strong democracy, ensuring justice, equality, freedom for all citizens.
Banerjee said that the Constitution also did the hard work of awakening unity among the diversity of culture, language, religion and community of the vast country and binds every Indian.
She said that the Constitution has also been amended for the necessity of the country.
"But nowadays, what is going on, I am afraid. It's a horrible thing which is going on. As a human being, a common person, I cannot accept it," she said.
She questioned what was the need for democracy and Constitution if "anyone tells us what to eat, wear or which language to speak in".
"We want to live in peace and everyone has a right to do that," she said.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
