Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh has lashed out at the Congress for personal taunts directed at Narendra Modi, saying they demonstrate “the party’s feudal mindset.”
“The BJP is a democratic party,” Mr. Singh told cadre gathered at the capital’s Ramlila grounds on Saturday, “we have inner-party democracy.”
“Even a tea vendor can become the prime minister, and a farmer can become the party president. In the Congress, only a particular family has the right to the post of Prime Minister.”
Congress Rajya Sabha member Mani Shankar Aiyar had said Mr. Modi “will never become the Prime Minister of the country… But if he wants to distribute tea here, we will find a place for him.” Miscreants, meanwhile, threw stones at Mr. Aiyar’s constituency office at Mayiladuthurai in Tamil Nadu, the police said
Mr. Singh also addressed the issue of Jammu and Kashmir’s constitutional status. Mr. Modi’s earlier remarks on the subject ignited controversy within the BJP, and between the party and the State’s politicians. “Jammu and Kashmir is a very serious, very sensitive region for us,” he said. “If the State develops because of Article 370, then we have no objection to keeping it. However, Mr. Singh qualified his remarks by saying if Article 370 was a “conspiracy” to stop the State from joining the Indian mainstream, then his party would not accept it.
