Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Amit Shah on Friday took a jibe at the Congress, stating that a party which considered “dynasty” as the quality benchmark for selecting its leader could never take the country forward.
Addressing a convention of party workers here, Mr. Shah said only the BJP and the “Communist party” in the country had internal democracy.
‘No merit’
To drive home his point, Mr. Shah threw a poser to the audience, seeking to know who would occupy the post of the BJP president after him.
As the audience remained quiet, he asked: “Now tell me who will be the next Congress president after Soniaji [Gandhi]?”
Following a pause, when the audience broke into laughter, Mr. Shah continued: “That says a lot. If dynasty, instead of merit, is the benchmark in a party, then it can never take the country forward.”
Mr. Shah said the Congress, formed before the country’s Independence, never had any consistent ideology and that whoever wanted freedom joined it.
“That is why Gandhiji wanted it [the Congress] to be disbanded after Independence,” he said.
‘Demonetisation boon’
He also listed the achievements of the BJP government at the Centre, including the decision to demonetise high-value currency notes, last year.
“We take decisions that are good for the people. Our aim is not to increase votes, but to develop the country,” he said.
BJP’s achievements
“I am proud that the BJP government has ended feudal politics, castiest politics and appeasement politics, apart from giving India a new economic growth vision,” Mr. Shah added.
Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari, Union Ministers Dr. Harsh Vardhan and Vijay Goel, BJP’s national organisational secretary Ramlal, Delhi in-charge Shyam Jaju, national general secretary Dr. Anil Jain and Leader of the Opposition Vijender Gupta were present on the occasion.
