PM Modi invoked former PM Indira Gandhi to attack the Congress. (File)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched a sharp attack on the Congress as he wrote in his blog that in 2014, people of the country voted decisively for "honesty over dynasty". Alleging that the party didn't believe in internal democracy, he said that if a leader wanted to head the Congress, he or she would be "shunted out". He alleged that the Congress saw the defence sector as a source of income.
"Sadly, Congress does not believe in internal democracy. If a leader dares to dream to head that party, he or she is shunted out of the Congress," he wrote in his blog titled "Institutional respect and Institutional contempt - two contrasting approaches".
"Congress has always seen the defence sector as a source of income which is why the armed forces never got the respect from the Congress that they deserved," PM Modi said.
"After 1947, every Congress government has seen multiple defence scams. They began with jeeps and then moved to guns, submarines and helicopters" he said, adding ," Every middleman is linked to one family."
The Enforcement Directorate last year told a court that Christian Michel, the alleged middleman in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case, named "Mrs Gandhi" and "the son of the Italian lady" while in custody.
Christian Michel, 54, is one of the three alleged middlemen being investigated in Rs. 3,600-crore VVIP chopper scam for allegedly organising bribes for Indian politicians and bureaucrats to push for the AgustaWestland deal, involving 12 luxury choppers, during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government.
"The sense of entitlement can be seen in their conduct towards routine legal processes. At present, their top leadership is on bail vis-a-vis a major scam. When the authorities seek to question them on their dealings, they do not even bother to reply," PM Modi said, referring to the National Herald case in which Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi are accused.
PM Modi also invoked former PM Indira Gandhi to attack the Congress. "It was Mrs. Indira Gandhi who called for a "committed judiciary", which seeks to make the courts more loyal to a family than to the Constitution," he alleged.
He attacked the Congress over its charge that the BJP government has weakened the country's institutions. "The NAC (National Advisory Council) was created as a body parallel to the Prime Minister's Office. And then, Congress talks about institutions?"
"A policy decision taken by no less than the Union Cabinet was torn into pieces by someone who was not a member of any ministry and that too, in a press conference," PM Modi said.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi's had torn a 2013 ordinance brought to protect convicted lawmakers in a news conference.
PM Modi tweeted his blog, saying the biggest casualty of dynastic politics are institutions.
Within hours, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra reacted to PM Modi's attacks. "BJP has systematically attacked every institution in last 5 years including the media. PM should stop thinking people are fools and understand that they see through this," she told news agency ANI.