Hitting out at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for deriding the ‘personality oriented’ politics of Narendra Modi, the BJP on Wednesday claimed he might have got the principle against personality centered party right, but got his facts all wrong.
The Opposition party also mocked Rahul in saying had he been in a structured party like the BJP or the left, he would still have been struggling to get his first assignment as an office bearer of the party or in a legislative body.
leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley countered Rahul by referring to Congress’ history that revolved around leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, who all belong to one family. Jaitley maintained that the only two Congress Prime Minister s- outside the personality cult - did not get their due.
“lal Bahadur Shastri was a Prime Minister for a brief period. His simplicity and high credibility inspired the whole country. His goodness is not a part of the Congress legacy. Despite some failings PV Narasimha Rao has a place in history as a leader who transformed India’s economy and foreign policy. He never appears on Congress Party’s billboards,” Jaitley said.
Describing Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narendra Modi as “popular leaders”, Jaitley argued having them was very different from the BJP becoming personality centric. “These leaders were and will always remain subject to the Party structure,” he claimed.
The BJP leader claimed Congress started identifying itself with Nehru in the 1950s, leading to the marginalization of a large number of political leaders who did not agree with him.
“When he made Indira Gandhi the President of the AICC in the late 1950s, it was the beginning of Congress Party’s official acknowledgement that dynastic rule was ushering in. Many senior leaders were by-passed in order to enable the daughter of the Prime Minister to become the Party President,” Jaitley said.
The BJP leader claimed Rajiv Gandhi initially gave an impression of breaking away from the past, but defending him in Bofors scam became a part of the Party’s commitment.
“When the senior leadership was involved in trying to implicate VP Singh’s son in the fake St.Kitts case the whole party stood up for the fabrication. What better evidence does one need of the Party’s personality centric politicsIJ” Jaitley asked.