One alliance is growth-focused, other rooted in corruption: Shah

Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday likened the upcoming general elections to the battle of Mahabharata, and said people will have to choose between the “Kauravas”, represented by the Congress-led INDIA bloc, and the “Pandavas”, represented by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

“India has to choose between a dynamic and development-oriented alliance, whose leader does not have any blemish of corruption and an alliance that’s rooted in corruption and dynastic politics,” Shah said, while speaking at the BJP’s national council meet.

The senior BJP leader, who is considered as the party’s chief election strategist, used the battle from the Hindu epic — fought among members of the same dynastic clan where the Kauravas represented the unvirtuous and the Pandavas stood for principles — as an allegory to define the present-day electoral contest between the NDA and the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).

Shah also moved a political resolution, “BJP-Desh Ki Asha, Vipaksh Ki Hatasha (BJP-nation’s hope and opposition’s frustration)” on the occasion, which was seconded by Union agriculture minister Arjun Munda.

In a sharp attack on the INDIA bloc, which he referred to as the “Ghamandia Gathbandhan (arrogant alliance)”, Shah said: “INDI alliance is an alliance of seven family-based parties. The leaders of these parties have not changed in the last four generations,” he said.

Accusing the Opposition parties of only wanting to promote their own families, he added: “Congress leader Sonia Gandhi aims to make her son Rahul (Gandhi) the country’s prime minister...Pawar Saheb (veteran leader Sharad Pawar) wants to make his daughter (Amravati MP Supriya Sule) CM, (West Bengal chief minister) Mamata Banerjee wants to see her nephew (TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee) in that position...Mulayam Singh Yadav ensured that his son (Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav) became CM.”

Hailing the BJP’s democratic functioning, he said it was possible only in the BJP that a tea-seller’s son could become prime minister, unlike in the opposition parties that are controlled by families and where the baton is passed from one generation to the other.

“There are 2G, 3G, and 4G parties, where one family has been ruling for two, three and four generations,” he said.

Shah’s statement is in line with the BJP’s campaign against dynastic politics. The party accuses the Congress, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Samajwadi Party of perpetrating dynastic politics that does not allow the ordinary worker to occupy positions of power. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi while responding to criticism that the kin of several BJP leaders also hold positions in the party and the government, said that while multiple people from the same family can join politics, what he stood up against was one family controlling a political party.

Shah also credited PM Modi for eradicating the politics of corruption, casteism and appeasement, and for giving the poor and the marginalised the respect they deserve. He slammed the Congress for using social groups that are economically and socially deprived as mere vote banks.

“Those who cannot encourage democracy in their parties, cannot protect democracy in India,” Shah said.

Drawing a contrast between the Congress-led UPA’s decade in power and the last 10 years of the NDA rule, Shah said the PM has reduced the gap between the haves and have-nots. “For the first time, politics of performance has been established... wherever Indians now go, they get asked if they are from Modi’s India,” he said.

Asserting that the Modi government has been successful in snuffing out terrorism and left-wing extremism, Shah said Modi 3.0 will ensure the country is free from these scourges.

“Modi has also shown that there need not be a conflict between empowering the farmers and boosting the economy...This used to be a debate whether the rural areas need to be uplifted or the urban areas. He showed both can be done, there can be smart cities as well as development in the rural areas,” he said.

The former BJP chief added that similar contradictions existed between pursuing policies for securing diplomatic ties and ensuring the country’s safety. “The PM showed the security of the country is our first priority and then we set out to make friends and become vishva-mitra (global friend),” he said.

Even as he accused opposition parties such as the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the DMK of fostering corruption, Shah singled out the Congress for engineering the toppling of governments and disrespecting institutions.

“The Congress since Indira Gandhi’s time has shown no respect or faith in democracy or democratic institutions. They disrespected the CAG, the election commission and the judiciary. No one for the next 100 years will be able to break their record of destabilising governments,” Shah alleged.

He also accused the grand old party of colluding with forces inimical to India and alleged party leaders had sought Pakistan’s help in removing Modi. In a pointed attack against Rahul Gandhi, he said, what the MP from Wayanad said against the Abrogation of Article 370 was used by Pakistan at the United Nations.

He also lashed out at the Congress for not doing anything for the OBCs and merely paying lip service to their cause by demanding a caste-based census.