Jammu: BJP chief Amit Shah on Saturday said the Congress was bereft of any idealogy as it was formed as part of a mass movement before Independence and that a party which was limited to one family’s interests cannot work in the interest of the country.
Hitting out at dynastic rule, he cited his own example, saying he joined the BJP as a member in 1982 without any political background and still made his way to become the party president.
“When I joined party in 1982, I was a booth member, and without any political backing, I went on to become the party president from the booth president and this shows the proof of the internal democracy in the party,” he said addressing a gathering this evening.
Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, senior leader L K Advani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were first generation leaders of the party and they did not have any political background. This was internal democracy, he said.
“Can anybody tell me who will be BJP chief after me? Nobody can tell. But everybody can easily tell you who will be the party president after Sonia Gandhi (in the Congress),” he said. Shah said that BJP chooses its leadership on the basis of work, dedication, vision and character from the grassroot level unlike other parties.
“This is the difference between the BJP and the rest of the parties. Take for example Samajwadi Party after Mulayam Singh Yadav. His son Akhilesh took over the party,” he said. Shah said most parties had such a leadership but out of 1,650 political parties only the BJP and the CPI-M kept alive their internal democracy and constitutional values.
“Tell me what is the ideology of the Congress…before Independence, it was not a party based on ideology. It was a group of people with different ideologies who had come together for free India,” he said. (PTI)
