New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday sought to counter Opposition criticism about dynasts in the BJP, saying neither Amit Shah nor Rajnath Singh — the former’s son is an honorary secretary in the BCCI, and the latter’s son, an MLA — “runs a political party”.
“When a family runs a party and preference is given to a family, that is parivarvaad,” he added.
Replying to the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address, Modi said: “What dynasty/nepotism (parivarvaad) are we talking about? If a family has progressed on its own, we do not oppose it. We oppose the nepotism in which the family alone runs the family party. The family takes all the decisions of the party.”
The politics of parivarvaad, he added, “is a matter of concern for the democracy of the country”.
“If two people from a family progress then it is welcome, if 10 people progress, then also it is welcome. But if the family runs the party, there should be opposition to their son becoming the president,” he said. “Congress got entangled in a family. It cannot see the aspirations and achievements of crores of families in the country.”
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‘Congress failed to become good Oppn’
The PM said the Congress is the “biggest culprit for the condition of the Opposition today”.
“Congress had a huge opportunity to become a good Opposition, but, in 10 years, it failed to fulfil that responsibility,” he added.
“They did not even allow others to rise. Tejasvi Opposition leaders ko dabaa diya.. Kaafi young leaders jo Opposition mein hain, unki chhavi ban jaye toh kahi inki na dab jaye (Gifted Opposition leaders were suppressed… worried that if the young leaders in the Opposition form an image, their own may suffer).”
“As much as the country has borne the brunt of dynasticism, the Congress bore the brunt of nepotism too,” he added.
The country, he said, “is in great need of a good and healthy Opposition”. He then took a potshot at the larger Opposition, suggesting that their position was unlikely to change soon.
“I appreciate the Opposition’s resolve to remain in the Opposition for a long time… The way you sat here (in government) for many decades, the same way you resolve to sit there (in Opposition)…
In the next election, you will reach greater heights, you will sit in the viewing gallery (of Parliament).”
Modi said many among the Opposition “have lost the courage to contest the elections”.
“I heard that many people changed their seats last time, too, and are planning to change their seats this time as well. I heard a lot of people are going to go from the Lok Sabha to the Rajya Sabha. They are finding their way by assessing the situation,” he added.
“Kharge ji shifted from this House (Lok Sabha) to that House (Rajya Sabha). Ghulam Nabi ji shifted from the party itself. All these shifted due to family issues,” he added. “Ek hee product ko launch karne ke chakkar mein dukan ko tala lagane ki naubat aa gayi (the shop shut down on account of efforts to launch just one product),” he said.
Modi also quoted from a speech by former PM Jawaharlal Nehru to question his views about Indians. Quoting from the speech, Modi added that the former PM said “‘Indians generally do not have the habit of working very hard, we do not work as much as the people of Europe or Japan or China or Russia or America’”.
“Nehru ji’s thinking towards Indians was that Indians were lazy and less intelligent,” Modi said.
Former PM Indira Gandhi’s thinking, he added, “was no different from Nehru’s”.
Quoting her, he said, “‘Unfortunately, our habit is that when some auspicious work is about to be completed, we become complacent, when any difficulty comes, we become hopeless, sometimes it seems that the entire nation has failed. It seems like we have adopted the feeling of defeat.”
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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