Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi.A day after party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi described Narendra Modi’s victory in the Lok Sabha elections as the victory of “Indianness”, a livid Congress leadership on Thursday severely denounced the views of the old Nehru-Gandhi family loyalist, read out a long interpretation of “Indianness” by Indira Gandhi for his benefit and hinted at disciplinary action against him.
Rapped on the knuckles, the 69-year-old veteran took pains to clarify his position. He denied having said Modi’s victory was a triumph of Indianness but at the same time asserted that he does not need to take lessons on Indianness or Bharatiyata from anyone. Hours later, Dwivedi met A K Antony, chairman of the party’s disciplinary committee, and explained his position.
Both Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi are said to be furious and Dwivedi’s fate now hangs in a balance.
It is not new for the Congress to distance itself from unpalatable remarks made by its leaders, but the manner in which it condemned the senior-most general secretary’s observation strengthened the theory doing the rounds about his possible exit from the party. Considered a 10, Janpath insider, Dwivedi has been not at ease with the gradual powershift to 12, Tughlak Lane, Rahul’s official residence. His removal as the head of the media department was seen as an instance of this powershift and his diminishing clout in the party.
“The Congress party condemns strongly and vehemently this thought and the attempt to equate Narendra Modi with Bharatiyata,” AICC general secretary and head of the communication department Ajay Maken said at an urgently convened press conference. He said “what Janardan Dwivedi said was diametrically opposite to Congress’s ideology and thought and its idea of Indianness”.
Asked whether the party could take disciplinary action against Dwivedi, Maken said, “The central leadership will soon take a decision on that.”
Maken then read out excerpts from a 1970 address delivered by former PM Indira Gandhi at Kashi Vidyapeeth on Indianness to spell out the party’s vision and views on Bharatiyata. It later circulated copies of the speech.
Maken said Modi can never be the symbol of Indianness. “If one look at the seven-month rule of Modi and his role in the 2002 riots in Gujarat when he was the Chief Minister, it cannot be said that Modi was a symbol of Indianness. In seven months, we have seen the kind of incidents that have happened in Trilokpuri and Bawana under his nose, we have seen one after another attack on churches in Delhi,” he said.
Recommended article: Chomsky: We Are All – Fill in the Blank.
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.
from Top Stories - Google News http://ift.tt/1BMs26L
via IFTTT
0 comments:
Post a Comment