Congress has scored self-goal by dragging Modi's parents in poll debate

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said that the Congress has scored a selfgoal by dragging Prime Minister Narendra Modis parents into the election campaign The BJP will be glad to fight the 2019 Lok Sabha elections if the Congress made it a contest between the son of lesserknown parents and someone who is known only for parentage rather than merit and competence he saidIn an article What was the name of Sardar Patels Father on BJPs website he targeted Congress President Rahul Gandhi and said the weakness of dynastic parties is that their strength is coexistent with the strength of the present generation of the dynastyHe sought to tear into the Congress by referring to the remarks of party leader Raj Babbar who had talked of age of Modis mother in connection with the falling value of rupee and to comments of another leader Vilas Muttemwar who had said that nobody knew the name of Modis fatherThe debate whether India should be a dynastic democracy has been ignited by a selfgoal of the Congress Party The Prime Ministers mothers age was made a subject matter of the electoral debate His fathers anonymity was commented upon as an inadequate credential of the Prime Minister The argument given was that if you represent the legacy of a wellknown family it is a political point in your favour Jaitley saidThe BJP leader said Congress considers only a great surname as a political brand Millions of talented political workers who come from modest family backgrounds would fail by the Congress test of leadership Merit talent ability to inspire and lead would not be a virtueJaitley said he asked his wellinformed friends if they knew the name of Mahatma Gandhis father or Sardar Patels father or wife but none of them had a definitive answerReferring to contributions of Gandhi and Patel he said no photograph of Patels wife or her details are available even after extensive research by modern day historiansThe reason is simple Decades of Congress rule naming colonies localities cities bridges airports railway stations schools colleges universities stadiums after one family was intended to declare the Gandhis as Indias royaltyJaitley said that after Sardar Patels death in Mumbai the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru requested many of his cabinet colleagues that the best tribute to the Sardar would be to work on the day of his funeral and not go to Mumbai but the then Head of State and several union ministers defied the adviceThe proposal for building his statue at Vijay Chowk was rejected The country had to be satisfied with the installation of his statue at a traffic roundabout on Parliament Street he saidThe BJP leader said many believe Sardar Patel was a farmer leader because of his participation in Bardoli Satyagraha but he was one of Ahmedabads most successful practising barristersPanditji is passed off as a great lawyer though he never argued a single case in his entire career He only went to court once for reasons of tokenism to sit behind senior lawyers led by Bholabhai Desai who was arguing for the three INA officers in the mutiny trial inside the Red Fort Jaitley saidThe BJP leader said that dangers of officially glamourising one family at the cost of those who made a far greater contribution are dangerous both for the nation as also for the party to which they belongThe contribution of other great stalwarts like Patel and Subhash Chandra Bose is downplayed Members of one family are projected as larger than life The party adopts them as its ideologyHe alleged that Nehru promoted Indira Gandhi as his successor and laid the foundation of India as a dynastic democracyHe said when Sikhs were massacred in 1984 communal polarisation against them was considered a legitimate electoral strategyToday antiBJPism leads the Congress to a situation where it can tie up even with its political rivals and sympathise with the Maoists separatists and disruptionsHe said the real strength of Indian democracy would be when the charisma of some families is completely shattered and parties through a democratic process throw up leaders of merit and competenceThis was more than adequately proved in 2014 where most dynastic parties lost miserably India of 2019 is different from India of 1971 If the Congress Party wants the 2019 elections to be between Prime Minister Modi who is the son of lesserknown parents and someone who is known only for his parentage rather than capacity merit and competence the BJP would gladly accept the challenge Let this be the agenda for 2019Modi had also targeted the Congress over its leaders referring to his parents during elections and said in one of his rallies that his father had passed away 30 years agoCatch 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 Except for the change in the headline the story has been provided ASIS AS 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