Expressing distress over the growing extremes in the country’s democratic polity, former Union Minister Ashwani Kumar said it was time for the Congress to lead the nation towards reclaiming the moderate middle path that defines the constitutional values of freedom.
“We are witnessing an age of extremes in the country. Intimidation of Opposition and minorities, assault on institutions of democracy, instances such as mob lynching, intrusions on liberties and freedom of people in terms of what one should eat, one should wear or who one should be friends with and above all scant disregard for the constitutional conscience of the country are some of the worrying features of our democratic polity today,” Mr. Kumar said on the sidelines of The Huddle.
He said the Lok Sabha election should be “fought and won for the vindication of constitutional values for the unceasing quest for the moderate centre”.
For, “at the end of the day, democracy as a form of governance and philosophy is about accommodation of competing interests and adjustments, which are so very essential for maintaining stability of order”.
Mr. Kumar regretted that the country had lost the “even playing field” that guaranteed social stability.
So, the Congress, as a party involved in the freedom movement, should play a “pivotal role in marshalling the forces of secularism, inclusion and egalitarianism to ensure that fear is vanquished and freedom prevails as the defining feature of our nation.”
On the accusations levelled at the Congress occasionally of practising “soft Hindutva”, Mr. Kumar sought to clarify that the notion of soft Hindutva was a misunderstood notion.
“Visiting temples and proclaiming beliefs in the finest tenets of Hinduism cannot be dubbed as being soft on communalism if that is what soft Hindutva is intended to imply,” he said.
