Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Wednesday strongly condemned the Odisha Bandh called by Congress and INDIA bloc, terming harassment of common citizens in the name of protest as utterly undemocratic.
Reacting to the bandh, the Chief Minister said in a democracy the right to opposition and protest certainly exists, but abusing ordinary citizens, intimidating them and disrupting their normal life is completely undemocratic.
Majhi said the Election Commission of India is an autonomous constitutional institution and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list is a neutral and routine process.
“It is extremely shameful and reprehensible that Congress and INDI alliance leaders and workers took to the streets and engaged in deplorable behaviour towards innocent people, harassing and assaulting them, solely to advance their own political interests,” the Chief Minister said.
Asserting that no one has the right to torment Odisha’s peaceful public or perpetrate atrocities against them for narrow politics, Majhi said in any democratic movement, restraint and respect for the rights of ordinary people are absolutely essential.
