NEW DELHI: Close on the heels of a section of Congress leaders maintaining that no one knows Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘father’s name’ vis-a-vis dynastic politics pursued by the grand of old party, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said that “contribution” of other stalwarts such as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Subhash Chandra Bose was “downplayed”.
“The contribution of other great stalwarts like Patel and Subhash Chandra Bose is downplayed. Members of one family are projected as larger than life,” Mr Jaitley wrote in his blog posted on Facebook.
Lashing out at the Congress leadership for always trying to “glamorise only one family”, Mr Jaitley sounded critical of Pt Jawaharlal Nehru and wrote: “In fact, upon Sardar Patel’s death in Mumbai, Prime Minister 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”.
The then Head of State – that is President Rajendra Prasad – and several Union Ministers defied the advice, he said. “The 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 round-about on Parliament Street”. Mr Jaitley gave the title of the blog as – “What was the name of Sardar Patel’s Father”. Commenting days after Congress leader and former Union minister Vilas Muttemwar had questioned Mr Modi’s lineage, the Finance Minister said: “The Congress considers only a great surname as a political brand”.
“The debate whether India should be a dynastic democracy has been ignited by a self-goal of the Congress Party. The Prime Minister’s mother’s age was made a subject matter of the electoral debate. His father’s anonymity was commented upon as an inadequate credential of the Prime Minister”.
Mr Jaitley stated that the argument given by the Congress leader is that “if you represent the legacy of a well-known family, it is a political point in your favour”.
“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 virtue,” he said.
Courting controversies, after Raj Babbar and C P Joshi, Congress leader from Maharashtra Muttemwar had said: “Who knew you (Modi) before you became the Prime Minister.
Even now, nobody knows the name of your father, but everybody knows the name of (Congress president) Rahul Gandhi’s father”.
A host of BJP leaders have blasted Congress and took strong exceptions in making Mr Modi’s humble background an issue during election campaigning.
Prime Minister himself during an election rally at Chhatarpur in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh flayed Congress for dragging his mother into politics in reference to Raj Babbar’s comment that the value of rupee was sliding as ‘the age of PM Modi”. BJP chief Amit Shah had also attacked Congress on the same issue.
“Two recent non-family members who served as Congress Presidents were treated in the most shabby manner possible. Shri PV Narasimha Rao’s body was never allowed inside the Congress office. Shri Sitaram Kesri, a towering leader, was roughed up by goons loyal to we know who,” Mr Shah tweeted last week. (AGENCIES)
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