‘Centre treats states like colonies, not partners’: Abhishek Manu Singhvi at AICC meet

NEW DELHI: Congress MP and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Friday launched a pointed attack on the Central government, accusing it of hollowing out cooperative federalism and transforming it into a tool of political control.

His remarks came during the party’s Legal Conclave organised by the AICC Law, Human Rights and RTI Department.

He alleged that major schemes are being imposed without consulting state governments, and that allocation of funds has become politically motivated.

Singhvi said, “The Centre today treats states not as partners in progress but as colonies of compliance. Schemes are launched without consultation. Funds are withheld with political bias.”

He said that elected governments are being toppled through “money, muscle and manipulation.”

“Elected governments are overthrown through money, muscle and manipulation. This is not cooperative federalism. It is coercive federalism wrapped up as propaganda,” Singhvi said.

Laying out what he described as a necessary course correction, Singhvi said, “So what is the pathway ahead? We are also supposed to talk of pathways today. It must begin with political courage and constitutional clarity. We must reclaim Parliament not as a place for paper bills but as a theatre of true debate.”

Singhvi further underlined the need for an assertive judiciary and independent media.

He said, “We must demand from our judiciary, not just interpretation, but intervention. We must protect the media not by controlling it, but by freeing it from fear and favour.”

The Congress leader emphasised that constitutional values must be made accessible to ordinary people.

“And above all, we must connect the Constitution to the common man. The Constitution cannot remain the concern of lawyers and academics alone. It must become the lived experience of every farmer, every woman, every student, every worker, and this is what Rahul Gandhi has talked about time and again,” he said.

Calling for a broader democratic awakening, he added, “Rights are not meant to be read, they are meant to be realised. It is the duty of the Congress party to ensure that from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, from Kutch to Kohima, every Indian feels the pulse of the preamble.”

Senior Congress leaders, including party president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi came together on Saturday to address the AICC Law, Human Rights and RTI Department at a special conclave focused on safeguarding the Constitution and institutional integrity. (ANI)