Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi, others attack PM Modi over his blog on dynasty politics.
Highlights
- PM Modi wrote a blog on Wednesday targeting the past Congress governments
- Priyanka Gandhi said "PM Modi should stop thinking people are fools"
- She alleged "those obsessed with power" believe they can bully critics
Soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi targeted the Congress and "dynastic politics" in a blog on Wednesday, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra shot off a stinging rebuttal, saying "PM should stop thinking people are fools".
In his blog, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in 2014, people of the country voted decisively for "honesty over dynasty". Whenever dynastic politics has been powerful, institutions have taken a severe beating, PM Modi wrote.
"When a Government works with the spirit of 'India First' instead of 'Family First', it shows in its working," he said.
"The biggest casualty of dynastic politics are institutions," he wrote, accusing the opposition party of denigrating parliament, press, constitution, courts, government bodies and the armed forces.
Asked for her response, Priyanka Gandhi, on a three-day boat campaign in Uttar Pradesh, told reporters: "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 alleged "those obsessed with power" believe they can bully critics into silence.
"When power goes to their head, they have two misconceptions. One, that it is easy to mislead people. Two, that those who speak against them are afraid. We are not afraid, no matter what they do. They can harass us as much as they want to, we will keep fighting," said Priyanka Gandhi.
PM Modi, in the blog replete with attacks on the Gandhis, said: "After 1947, every Congress government has seen multiple defence scams. They began with jeeps and then moved to guns, submarines and helicopters. Every middleman is linked to one family."
He alleged that the party didn't believe in internal democracy. "If a leader dares to dream to head that party, he or she is shunted out of the Congress," he said.
"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," he wrote.
PM Modi also invoked former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, saying she had called for a "committed judiciary" that sought to make the courts more loyal to a family than to the constitution.
He appeared to respond to Priyanka Gandhi's allegation that his government had weakened institutions."The NAC (National Advisory Council) was created as a body parallel to the Prime Minister's Office. And then, Congress talks about institutions?"