Jaitley: Personal ambitions leading to degeneration of Congress ideolog

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said the personal ambitions of the Congress leadership had led to the degeneration of its ideology and that its dynastic tendencies would have turned India into a kingdom rather than even a dynastic democracy had it not been for the BJPHe said it was the personal grievances and ambitions which compelled the Congress party leadership to visit a congregation where antiIndia slogans were raisedWould Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi have ever gone to a congregation where Bharat ke tukde honge slogan was raised he asked while delivering the first Atal Bihari Vajpayee Memorial Lecture at the India Ideas Conclave hereJaitley said the Congress which was the dominant party of Indian politics for at least four decades postIndependence developed dynastic tendencies after its second decade in powerHe said the Indian parliamentary democracy needed an alternative ideological and political pole without which it was incompleteIt was then that Atal Bihari Vajpayee put across his alternative view point whether it was Kashmir Tibet or situation arising post the IndiaChina war The alternative voice was hisIndian democracy because of the two political parties as national parties became a viable parliamentary democracy The principal party from the weakness it showed in the second decade would have succeeded in converting India more into a kingdom rather than even a dynastic democracy Jaitley saidListing the challenges ahead for India he said terrorism and insurgency would always remain one of the key threatsThe Minister said while India had been successful in eliminating terror or reducing it substantially in three parts of India Punjab northeast and southern part of India two challenges that still remained were Kashmir and MaoismIn reply to a question he said the living realities of Kashmir were that trouble was being fomented from across the border some local groups had now joined in and the worst sufferers of this were the Kashmiri peopleHe said in this battle India needed the Kashmiri people on its sideIts a battle for sovereignty a battle against separatists and terrorists And the key is also held by people Therefore the approach has to be guided by the fact that those people are on our side and not with separatists Jaitley saidTaking a dig at the regional parties of Jammu and Kashmir the Minister said they spoke one language in Srinagar and another in DelhiHe said the politics of India had to send a clear message that separatism will never be accepted by India and its mainstreamTalking about Maoists he said some mainstream parties were giving respectability to themReferring to the degrading quality of politics and public discourse Jaitley said there was a disconnect between the aspirational new India that was emerging and the larger quality of politicsRegarding Vajpayees statesmanship and respect for his opponents he said the best speech he ever gave was his obituary tribute to Jawaharlal Nehru in ParliamentWe have to keep the spirit of democracy alive And lets be clear democracy cant be saved by those who are committed to dynasties or those who are committed to the leftwing philosophy of violent overthrows of government or those who believe in breaking India into pieces he saidJaitley said the other challenges facing India were poverty and corruption He added another issue that India had to deal with was to figure out a balance between fundamental rights and the right to religionAnd these will remain issues which will throw up contemporary challenges which the society has to find the answer to he saidThe fundamental principles are very clear India will never have a state religion theocracy can never be and India will always protect minoritiesCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever