Tag: democracy

DOJ cites threats to democracy on Jan. 6 in push for steep Oath Keepers sentences

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“As this Court is well aware, the justice system’s reaction to January 6 bears the weighty responsibility of impacting whether January 6 becomes an outlier or a watershed moment,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nestler wrote in the 183-page sentencing memo. “Left unchecked, this impulse threatens our democracy.”
Prosecutors cited polling from earlier this year showing that one in five Americans believe political violence is sometimes justified and that one in 10 “believes it would be justified if it meant the return of President Trump.”
Rhodes was charged with seditious conspiracy last year alongside nearly a dozen Oath Keepers for their roles in the Jan. 6 attack. Prosecutors alleged that Rhodes embraced Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and used it to mobilize Oath Keepers across the country to resist the results of the election.
“These defendants were prepared to fight. Not for their country, but against it,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo. “In their own words, they were ‘willing to die’ in a ‘guerilla war’ to achieve their goal of halting the transfer of power after the 2020 Presidential Election. … These defendants played a central and damning role in opposing by force the government of the United States, breaking the solemn oath many of them swore as members of the United States Armed Forces.”
In an eight-week trial last year, prosecutors presented evidence that the group planned to descend on Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 in response to Trump’s call about two weeks earlier for supporters to “be there, will be wild.” They stockpiled weapons, which prosecutors contend were meant to be available if the mob’s clash with police turned even more violent than it did, at a Comfort Inn in Arlington, Va.
Rhodes, an Army veteran, Yale Law School graduate and disbarred attorney, was one of a pair of Oath Keepers convicted by a jury last November on rare seditious conspiracy charges for planning an assault on the Capitol as Congress was tallying the electoral votes as part of the process transitioning power from Trump to President Joe Biden.
The other person convicted on the marquee charge was Kelly Meggs, a leader of the Florida Oath Keepers. Three Oath Keepers members tried with Rhodes and Meggs were acquitted of seditious conspiracy, but convicted on other felony charges.
Four other Oath Keepers were convicted of seditious conspiracy at a second trial in January. And three more pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy over the past year.

In addition to the nine Oath Keepers who have been convicted of seditious conspiracy, five members of the far-right Proud Boys have also been convicted of or pleaded guilty to the charge. Four of them, including the group’s national leader Enrique Tarrio, were found guilty by a jury on Thursday. The sentencing recommendation for Rhodes is a window into the likely sentence that prosecutors will seek for Tarrio and his allies.
The recommendation for the stiff prison term for Rhodes was sent Friday night to U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta, who has presided over three jury trials for Oath Keepers members. A fourth is slated to take place later this year.
Mehta, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, has scheduled sentencing for Rhodes, Meggs and several other convicted Oath Keepers over a series of dates in late May and early June.
Prosecutors also announced in their Friday night submission that they are seeking similarly lengthy sentences for others convicted in the Oath Keepers trials to date, including: 21 years for Meggs, 18 years for Jessica Watkins, 17 years for Roberto Minuta, 17 years for Ed Vallejo, 15 years for Kenneth Harrelson and 14 years for Thomas Caldwell. Each of them would equal or exceed the lengthiest sentences given to Jan. 6 defendants so far.
Prosecutors arrived at those steep sentencing recommendations in part by labeling the actions of Rhodes and his co-conspirators “terrorism,” defined in the criminal code as “acts that were intended to influence the government through intimidation or coercion.” The Justice Department has sought this enhancement in relatively few Jan. 6 cases and with limited success.
Judges declined to adopt it in several cases against high-profile Jan. 6 defendants — but none had been convicted of seditious conspiracy and none were alleged to have played as large a role in the Jan. 6 attack as Rhodes and his allies.
Prosecutors also dinged Rhodes and several allies for participating in post-trial interviews in which they defended their actions on Jan. 6. Rhodes, in particular, they said “continues to invoke the words and deeds of the Founding Fathers in not-so-veiled calls for violent opposition to the government.”
About 1,000 people have been charged criminally in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol, but prosecutors said Rhodes and other members of the fiercely anti-government Oath Keepers deserve lengthy prison sentences because they were instigators of the unrest and violence that broke out that day.
While the vast majority of those charged entered the Capitol building, Rhodes and Tarrio were convicted on the serious seditious conspiracy charge despite never setting foot in the building that day. Rhodes was in Washington and marched with Oath Keepers members, but remained in a parking lot as rioters entered the building and clashed with police. Tarrio had been arrested by police a couple of days before and was in Baltimore when the violence unfolded on Jan. 6 after being ordered to leave Washington.
While the 25-year recommendation for Rhodes is the lengthiest yet in Jan. 6 cases, it is only slightly longer than the 24-year, six-month sentence prosecutors sought for a man sentenced Friday for repeatedly assaulting police officers during the riot.
A jury convicted Peter Schwartz, 49, last December on assault and civil disorder charges for throwing a chair at police and spraying them with pepper spray, all while armed with a wooden tire knocker. According to prosecutors, unlike many Jan. 6 defendants, Schwartz had “a substantial violent criminal history.”
Mehta, the same judge handling the Oath Keeper’s cases, sentenced Schwartz to 14 years in prison. While that was more than a decade short of what prosecutors asked for, it was the longest sentence yet for a Jan. 6 offender. The next longest was also handed out by Mehta: 10 years for Thomas Webster, a retired New York City police officer who assaulted a D.C. cop on the front lines of the Capitol riot. Prosecutors had sought a 17-and-a-half year term in that case.
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#DOJ #cites #threats #democracy #Jan #push #steep #Oath #Keepers #sentences
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

May 6, 2023
India’s image as vibrant democracy shouldn’t be tarnished: Vice President Dhankhar

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Dibrugarh: India is the world’s most vibrant democracy and its image cannot be allowed to be tainted or tarnished by anyone, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar said on Wednesday.
Some people are trying to tarnish India’s democratic image outside the country by spreading a false narrative that people do not enjoy their rights, Dhankhar said while addressing the 21st convocation of the Dibrugarh University here.
”When all is going well, why should some decry our democracy, talk outside as well as inside the country that we do not have democratic values? I dare say with confidence and without fear of contradictions, India is the most vibrant functional democracy on the planet on this date,” he said without naming anyone.

He urged the students that they must find a way out so that such ”pernicious and sinister narratives are nipped in the bud”.
He appealed to students, youth, intelligentsia and media to act as ”ambassadors of the country. Believe in nationalism and run down this narrative”.
This is a narrative with no factual basis and ”we cannot support those who inside and outside the country, tarnish and taint our growth trajectory and democratic values,” the vice president said.
The Vice President also said that the Parliament is a “place for dialogue, discussion and debate” and not a place for disruption and disturbances.
Dhankhar claimed that such false narratives are emanating from a few universities outside the country, including in the United States, where some Indian students and faculty criticise their own country.

”You will find a few politicians who will trot around the globe and criticise their country but this is not India’s culture. Our former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee when in opposition was selected by then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao to represent the country. This is our culture and we have to believe in our motherland and subscribe to the sublimity of our nationalism,” he said.
Though Dhankhar did not take any names, in the past similar allegations had been made by the BJP against Congress leader RahulGandhi for having criticised the government in lectures abroad.
Parliament is a place for dialogue, deliberation, discussion and debate and not a place for disruption and disturbances, the Vice President said.
He asked, ”How can we weaponise disruption and disturbances as a political tool? How can we allow this hallowed theatre to be polluted?”
It is time that an ecosystem is created so that Parliamentarians respond positively to the spirit and essence of the Constitution, Dhankhar said.
He said that India has emerged as the fastest-growing economy in the world and is now a favoured destination for investments.
”We are now the fifth largest global economy and what is indeed a matter of pride is that we overtook our erstwhile colonial masters. We hope to become the third largest economy of the world by the turn of the current decade,” he said.
The Vice President said that the year 2014 was a watershed in India’s political history with the nation being respected over the world.
”There has been a new mantra of governance which is less government and more governance’ coupled with visionary planning and execution,” Dhankhar added.
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#Indias #image #vibrant #democracy #shouldnt #tarnished #Vice #President #Dhankhar
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 3, 2023
‘Why some of us decry our democracy’, Dhankhar’s jibe at Rahul

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Dibrugarh: Criticising Congress leader Rahul Gandhi without mentioning his name, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday wondered “why some of us decry our democracy within and outside the country”, while describing India as “the mother of democracy and the world’s most vibrant democracy”.
The Vice President said this during his speech while attending the convocation of the Dibrugarh University located on the outskirts of this upper Assam town.
Dhankar’s jibe was apparently aimed at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who had said in a Cambridge University lecture that India’s democracy is under threat.

Calling Parliament “the temple of our democracy”, the Vice President emphasised that it is a platform where issues of public interest are debated, deliberated, discussed and decided, but prolonged disruptions, he added, undermine the esteem and confidence which people repose in their representative institutions.
Therefore, he called for generating an ecosystem so that “the parliamentarians respond positively to the spirit and essence of the founders of our Constitution”.
He underlined that freedom of expression has not been subjected to any enforced silence in India.
Dhankhar also said that education is the most effective and transformative mechanism to bring about equity, equality and progress in society.
“Nothing can change societal conditions more than people getting educated,” he commented.

The Vice President urged the students to be “agents of change” and work to bring about positive changes in society.
“You are the makers and the warriors of Bharat in 2047 when the nation will celebrate the centenary of its Independence,” he told them.
Dhankar said: “Have a dream, but do not be just a dreamer, be a doer.”
Terming the eight northeastern states the “Ashta Laxmis” of India, the Vice President said without their growth and contribution, India’s growth would remain incomplete.
He also commended Dibrugarh University for its work towards preserving the linguistic diversity and literary traditions of the region.
“Preserving our languages is very important as they have evolved over thousands of years,” he said.
The Vice President praised NCERT and the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) for highlighting the contribution of unsung heroes of the northeast “in our history and freedom struggle”.
Dhankhar also said that the northeast is emerging as the land of opportunities.
Mentioning various projects such as Bogibeel rain-cum-road bridge, 375 road projects, the rise in the airports and the setting up of 190 new educational institutions in the northeastern region, he highlighted that new avenues and vistas are now available to youth to unleash their energy.
The Vice President expressed confidence that by the end of the decade, India will be the world’s third largest economy.
The Vice President conferred D.Sc. and D.Litt degrees (Honoris Causa) to eminent personalities of Assam. He also planted a sapling tree on the university campus.
Assam Governor Gulab Chand Kataria, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma, Union Minister Rameswar Teli and other dignitaries were present.
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#decry #democracy #Dhankhars #jibe #Rahul
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 3, 2023
Trudeau stumps for democracy in New York — and for his future back home

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Trudeau’s words echoed U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan who used a major policy address Thursday to point the direction the White House plans to take in the global economy.
“We’re at a moment now where we need to build capacity to produce the goods and invent the technologies of the future,” Sullivan said at the Brookings Institution. “And we’re going to do that — us plus anyone else who wants to get in on the deal.”
Trudeau used his speech to relay his big-picture vision of what Canada’s role in a rapidly changing world, repeatedly slagging Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, though not by name.
No election has been called in Canada, but a quirk of Trudeau’s minority government means one could happen at any time before the next fixed election more than two years away.
“We’ve been investing in the middle class, not ginning up anger and telling them everything is broken and you need to burn it down,” he said, taking a swipe at his rival’s sloganeering, which has helped Conservatives smash fundraising records in a non-election year.
Trudeau also mirrored themes raised by President Joe Biden during his address to the House of Commons last month, evoking the truism that the destinies of Canada and the U.S. are intertwined. Just as Biden did in Ottawa, Trudeau took time in New York to address anxieties about a liberal democratic world order under duress following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The prime minister’s three-term government is under fire; critics suggest it’s worn out and unable to deal with new economic and geopolitical crises. Russia’s war and tensions with China have increased the political value of defense and industrial policies — two areas that were not Liberal priorities when they swept into power in 2015.
A leaked Pentagon assessment recently obtained by The Washington Post claims Trudeau privately told NATO officials that Canada will never meet the alliance’s defense-spending target. On Friday, Trudeau dumped the blame on Conservatives, ignoring the fact his government has been in power for nearly eight years.

“We need to continue to invest more in defense, among many other things,” the prime minister said. “The previous Conservative government, for all its saber-rattling in our country, managed to drop defense spending to below one percent of our GDP.”
As a sign of progress, he referenced Canada’s $14.2-billion deal to buy 88 F-35 stealth fighter jets from the United States.
Trudeau, both during his speech and in lengthy responses to subsequent questions, worked to establish himself as a big-picture thinker and contender in the coming election — whenever it is.
America is also entering an election season — Biden confirmed his re-election campaign earlier this week.
Asked if he’s worried about democracy and America’s future, Trudeau replied: “Obviously.”
He again noted the economies of Canada and the U.S. are interconnected.
“You guys are the greatest democracy in the world. And right now, it’s not just that it’s being taken for granted by so many of your citizens. It’s actually being devalued to a certain extent. It’s not people’s fault,” he said.
“The same forces are happening in Canada and elsewhere.”
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#Trudeau #stumps #democracy #York #future #home
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 28, 2023
Restoration of democracy must to rebuild trust in J&K: NC

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Srinagar, Apr 27 (GNS): National Conference Additional General Secretary Dr. Sheikh Mustafa Kamal on Thursday called for immediate confidence building measures to instil trust in the people of J&K.
Kamal said this while interacting with the party functionaries, here at the party headquarters Nawa-e-Subha, Srinagar.
It was promised that steps would be taken to restore mutual trust and confidence among the people of Jammu and Kashmir, he said adding, “The biggest step towards bridging the trust deficit gap would be by restoring a duly elected legislature and a representative government in J&K. There is a loss of trust which needs to be restored immediately and for that, to begin with, the Centre should work for restoration of complete statehood to Jammu and Kashmir at the earliest so that other democratic exercises could be carried forward.”
New Delhi has repeatedly said that it wants to accelerate J&K’s development and bring large investments to the region, he added saying, “Denying democratic rights to people will foster greater alienation, which could trigger a vicious cycle and make the job more difficult later. Releasing political detainees will be another step towards rebuilding eroded trust.” (GNS)
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#Restoration #democracy #rebuild #trust
( With inputs from : thegnskashmir.com )

April 27, 2023
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol honored the 70th anniversary of the U.S.-South Korean alliance and warned of risks to democracy in an address to Congress.

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Yoon also strongly condemned the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

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#South #Korean #PresidentYoon #Suk #Yeol #honoredthe #70th #anniversary #U.S.South #Korean #alliance #warned #risks #democracy #address #Congress
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 27, 2023
Anti JK Forces Won’t Stand Test Of Democracy: Farooq Abdullah

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SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference President, Dr Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday said that opportunistic politicians pose a bigger threat to the historical individuality & cultural uniqueness of Jammu and Kashmir.
While addressing party workers and functionaries from Sangrama constituency at the party headquarters Nawa-e-Subha, Srinagar, Farooq Abdullah said that people have recognized the true face of these opportunists, who behind their deceptive facades are working towards dividing our voice and strength, Dr Farooq said.
“They know that they cannot stand the test of democracy. Whenever elections are held, people will teach them a lesson. How long can they run away from facing people? One or the other day they have to face them. However I’m sure that people won’t allow them to play with their honour and dignity,” he said.
Stressing on the importance of maintaining unity in the ongoing struggle for restoration of J&K’s rights, Dr Farooq said, “I see no way of achieving anything in J&K without a lasting unity between different sections of our society. Unity in diversity must be our creed to last for all times and under all circumstances, otherwise there is no end in sight to our common problems in the shape of poverty, unemployment.”

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#Anti #Forces #Wont #Stand #Test #Democracy #Farooq #Abdullah
( With inputs from : kashmirlife.net )

April 26, 2023
The old guard: Joe Biden seems like a spring chicken compared to some of these guys

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When the U.S. president on Tuesday announced that he would seek reelection in 2024, attention quickly turned to his advanced age.
If elected, Joe Biden would be 82 on inauguration day in 2025, and 86 on leaving the White House in January 2029.
POLITICO took a look around the globe and back through history to meet some other elected world leaders who continued well into their octogenarian years, at a time when most people have settled for their dressing gown and slippers, some light gardening, and complaining about young people.
Here are seven of the oldest — and yes, they’re all men.
Paul Biya
President of Cameroon Paul Biya | Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
The world’s oldest serving leader, Cameroon’s president has been in power since 1982, winning his (latest) reelection at the age of 85 with a North Korea-esque 71.28 percent of the vote.
Spanning more than four decades and seven consecutive terms — in 2008, a constitutional reform lifted term limits — Biya’s largely undisputed reign has not come without controversy.
His opponents have regularly accused him of election fraud, claiming he successfully built a state apparatus designed to keep him in power.
Notorious for his lavish trips to a plush palace on the banks of Lake Geneva, which he’s visited more than 50 times, Biya keeps stretching the limits of retirement. Although he has not formally announced a bid for the next presidential elections in 2025, his party has called on him to run again in spite of his declining health.

Last February, celebrations were organized throughout the country for the president’s 90th birthday. According to the government, young people spontaneously came out on the streets to show their love for Biya.
Konrad Adenauer
Former Chancellor of West Germany Konrad Adenauer | Keystone/Getty Images
West Germany’s iconic first chancellor was elected for his inaugural term at the tender age of 73, but competed and won a third and final term at the age of 85.
In his 14-year chancellorship (1949-1963), Adenauer shaped Germany’s postwar years with a strong focus on integrating the young democracy into the West. Big milestones such as the integration of Germany into the European Economic Community and joining the NATO alliance just a few years after World War II happened under his leadership.
If his nickname “der Alte” (“the old man”) is one day bestowed upon Biden, the U.S. president would share it with a true friend of America.
Ali Khamenei
Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei | AFP via Getty Images
84-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the last word on all strategic issues in Iran, and his rule has been marked by murderous brutality against opponents.
That violence has only escalated in recent years, with mass arrests and the imposition of the death penalty against those protesting his dictatorial rule. A mere middle-ranking cleric in the 1980s, few expected Khamenei to succeed Ruhollah Khomeini as Iran’s supreme leader, and he took the top job in hurried, constitutionally dubious circumstances in 1989.
A pipe-smoker and player of the tar, a traditional stringed instrument, he was president during the attritional Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, and survived a bomb attack against him in 1981 that crippled his arm.
Thankfully for Khamenei, he doesn’t have the stress of facing elections to wear him down.
Robert Mugabe
President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe | Michael Nagle/Getty Images
You’ve heard the saying “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely” — well, here’s a classic case study.
Robert Mugabe’s political career reached soaring heights before crashing to depressing lows, during his nearly four decades ruling over Zimbabwe. He came to power as a champion of the anti-colonial struggle, but his rule descended into authoritarianism — while he oversaw the collapse of Zimbabwe’s economy and society.
Though Mugabe’s final election win was marred by allegations of vote-rigging and intimidation, the longtime leader chalked up a thumping, landslide victory in 2013, aged 89.
He was finally, permanently, removed as leader well into his nineties, during a coup d’etat in 2017. He died two years later.
Giorgio Napolitano
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano | Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty Images
The former Italian president took his largely symbolic role to new heights when, aged 86, he successfully steered the country through a perilous transition of power in 2011 — closing that particular chapter of Silvio Berlusconi’s story.
Operating mostly behind the scenes, Napolitano saw five PMs come and go during his eight-and-a-half years in office, at a time when Italian politics were rife with instability (but hey, what’s new?).
Reelected against his will in 2013 at 87 — he had wanted to step down, but gave in after a visit from party leaders desperate to put Italy’s political landscape back on an even keel — Napolitano won the nickname “Re Giorgio” (King George) for his statesmanship.
When he resigned two years later, he said: “Here [in the presidential palace], it’s all very beautiful, but it’s a bit like jail. At home, I’ll be ok, I can go out for a walk.”
Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian National Authority | Sean Gallup/Getty Images
“It has been a very good day,” Javier Solana, the then European Union foreign policy chief, exclaimed when Mahmoud Abbas was elected president of the Palestinian Authority in 2005.
As a tireless advocate of a negotiated two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Abbas has enjoyed strong backing from the international community.
But three EU policy chiefs later and with lasting peace no closer, Abbas is still in power, despite most polls showing that Palestinians want him to step aside.
His solution for political survival: No presidential elections have been held in the Palestinian Territories since that historic ballot in 2005, with the Palestinian leadership blaming either Israel or the prospect of rising Hamas influence for the postponement of elections.
While Abbas seems to have found a solution for political survival, the physical survival of the 87-year-old chain smoker is now being called into question.
William Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone | Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Queen Victoria reportedly described Gladstone as a “half-mad firebrand” — and you’d have to be to chase a fourth term as prime minister aged 82.
At that point Gladstone had already outlived Britain’s life expectancy at the time by decades.
During his career, Gladstone expanded the vote for men — but failed to pass a system of home rule in Ireland, and he was slammed for alleged inaction to help British soldiers who were slaughtered in the Siege of Khartoum.
Gladstone was Britain’s oldest-ever prime minister when he eventually stepped down at 84 — and no one has beaten that record since. Similarly, no one has served more than his four (nonconsecutive) terms.
But should the Tories remain addicted to chaos, who’d bet against Boris Johnson starting his fifth stint as PM in 2049?
Ali Walker and Christian Oliver contributed reporting.

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#guard #Joe #Biden #spring #chicken #compared #guys
( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

April 26, 2023
EU to deploy mission to Moldova to combat threats from Russia

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The EU will send a civilian mission to Moldova to help the Eastern European nation combat growing threats from abroad, officials have confirmed, following a string of reports that the Kremlin is working to destabilize the former Soviet Republic.
In a statement issued Monday, the bloc’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said that the mission, under the Common Security and Defence Policy, would step up “support to Moldova [to] protect its security, territorial integrity and sovereignty” against Russia.
Officials confirmed that the mission will focus on “crisis management and hybrid threats, including cybersecurity, and countering foreign information manipulation and interference.”
In February, the president of neighboring Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Kyiv’s security services had intercepted Russian plans to “break the democracy of Moldova and establish control over Moldova.” The country’s pro-EU leader, President Maia Sandu, later alleged that “the plan included sabotage and militarily trained people disguised as civilians to carry out violent actions, attacks on government buildings and taking hostages.”
According to Vlad Lupan, Moldova’s former ambassador to the U.N. and a professor at New York University, Brussels’ move comes after “multiple signals Moldova would not be able to deal with Russian influence operations alone.” He told POLITICO that the mission would now have to focus on “communicating why the EU’s rule of law and democracy brings both respect and prosperity to the people compared to the Russian autocratic model.”
Home to just 2.6 million people, Moldova was for decades one of Moscow’s closest allies, and 1,500 Russian troops are currently stationed in the breakaway region of Transnistria. Elected in 2020, Sandu has repeatedly condemned the Kremlin for invading Ukraine and called for the withdrawal of its forces from her country. In June last year, EU leaders announced Moldova, as well as Ukraine, would be granted candidate status, beginning the process for its accession to become a new member state.
However, Moscow still maintains a significant hold on the country, operating several popular Russian-language state media outlets and supplying almost all of its natural gas. After the Russian energy giant Gazprom announced last year it would raise prices, as well as turn off the taps unless past debts were paid in full, Moldova, one of the Continent’s poorest countries, has turned to Brussels for support in diversifying its supplies.

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#deploy #mission #Moldova #combat #threats #Russia
( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

April 26, 2023
We will ‘fight for democracy’ in country: Thackeray after meeting with Venugopal

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Mumbai: After meeting with Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday said that the two parties despite all differences in their ideologies will come together in the “fight for democracy”.
Venugopal on Monday met Thackeray at his ‘Matoshree’ residence in Mumbai, in what can be termed as yet another step in the direction of forming “opposition unity”.
Addressing a press conference, Thackeray said, “First of all, I want to welcome him (Venugopal) here at Matoshree. There are differences in our ideology but it is a democracy and we have to come together with hardly a year left for the election. They (BJP) only want power and we Shiv Sena are here to save democracy”.

He said that the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thakarey) and Congress will come together in the “fight for democracy”.
The former Chief Minister also accused BJP of betrayal.
“We maintained a relationship with the BJP for 25-30 years. But they did not understand who was a friend and who was an opponent. We will together fight for democracy in the country,” he said.
“Last time when BJP chief JP Nadda came to Mumbai, he said that there will be only one party and that is BJP. This is the biggest betrayal to all other parties. The way they tried to finish Shiv Sena and betrayed the party, they are trying to do the same with other parties too,” he said.
KC Venugopal also addressed the press conference and said, “I have requested Uddhav ji to come to Delhi and meet Sonia ji and Rahul”.

Earlier on April 13, as part of efforts to forge opposition unity to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, NCP chief Sharad Pawar met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi. During the meeting, discussions centred on the need to talk to other parties and to move together in the fight for various issues concerning people.
On the same day, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav met Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, as part of efforts to unite as many opposition parties to take on the BJP.
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#fight #democracy #country #Thackeray #meeting #Venugopal
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 18, 2023