One family's desire for power cost the nation: Modi

One family's desire for power cost the nation so greatly', Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday reviving the dynastic politics attack on Congress in the midst of polls and recalled late Indira Gandhi calling for a “committed judiciary” to blunt the Congress attack on his government of undermining institutions.

Congress countered the dynastic politics charge with former Union Minister Kapil Sibal hitting back saying that the biggest example of dynastic politics is RSS family, the parivaar to which all BJP leaders owe allegiance. Accusing Modi of making “false promises and false statements”, Sibal earlier described the Prime Minister as “The Lie Lama”.

Modi in big blog on Wednesday alleged Congress’ contempt for the courts is anyway legendary.

“It was Mrs Indira Gandhi who called for a “committed judiciary”, which seeks to make the courts more loyal to a family than to the Constitution. In a telling comment, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi called the Planning Commission led by Dr Manmohan Singh a bunch of jokers.

He also recalled that NAC (National Advisory Council headed by Sonia Gandhi during UPA regime) was created as a body parallel to the Prime Minister’s Office.

“And then, Congress talks about institutions,” Modi wondered and alleged that during the Congress rule, the CBI became the Congress Bureau of Investigation- it was used time and again on political parties just before crucial parliamentary votes.

Hitting the main Opposition party for allowing members from one family to continue at the helm for most of the period after independence, the Prime Minister said that while political parties are vibrant bodies that manifest diverse public opinion, “sadly, Congress does not believe in internal democracy. If a leader dares to dream to head that party, he or she is shunted out of the Congress.”

Modi said the mandate of 2014 in which BJP got a single party majority, first political party to do so in last 30 years, was “epoch-making” also because it was “for the first time in the history of India that a non-dynastic party was blessed with a complete majority”.

In the backdrop of the Congress leadership having repeatedly been telling the media as how the freedom of the press is under duress under Modi regime, the Prime Minister flagged that “dynastic parties” have never been comfortable with a free and vibrant press.

“No wonder, the very first Constitutional Amendment brought in by the Congress government sought to curtail free speech. Speaking truth to power, which is the hallmark of a free press was seen as vulgar and indecent. The recent UPA years saw the bringing of a law that could land you in prison for posting anything offensive. A tweet against the son of a powerful UPA minister could land innocent citizens in jail,” Modi said.

The Prime Minister also drew focus on recent arrest of some BJP supporting techies in Karnataka. “Just a few days ago, the nation watched with horror when a few youngsters were arrested for expressing their true feelings at a programme in Karnataka, where the Congress is sharing power.”

Congress President Rahul Gandhi and it's general Priyanka Gandhi have repeatedly targetted Modi government of undermining institutions. Seeking to turn the table on them, Modi said sarcastically, “from the press to parliament, from soldiers to free speech, from the constitution to the court's institutional insult is the Congress way. Everyone is wrong, only Congress is correct.”

He also asked the electorates “as you go to vote- remember the past and how one family's desire for power cost the nation so greatly. If they could do it then, they can surely do it now. Eternal vigilance remains the price of liberty. Let us stay vigilant and work hard to strengthen the intuitions given to us by the makers of our Constitution.”

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who heads the BJP committee for publicity for Lok Sabha polls tweeted as he shared Modi's blog “the biggest casualty of dynastic politics in India has been our institutions and the people of India have been the sufferers. This cannot continue now.”