‘Threat to Constitution’: PM attacks dynastic parties

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday tore into the Congress and some other opposition parties saying India is heading towards a kind of crisis in the form of dynastic parties, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, that are run and controlled by the same family for generations to pose the” biggest threat” to a healthy democracy and a concern to people committed to the Constitution.

As the prime minister targeted the opposition parties over their boycott of the event to commemorate the Constitution day at the Central Hall of Parliament, President Ram Nath Kovind said all MPs, whether representing the ruling party or the opposition, are defenders of the dignity of Parliament and competition should not be confused with rivalry. A total of 14 opposition parties including the Congress, the TMC and the DMK gave the event a miss.

While President Kovind said there may be differences of opinion but no difference should be so great as to hinder the real purpose of public service, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, who is the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, stressed that the Constitution requires the country to be a democratic republic and said legislatures should be guided by dialogue and debate and not be rendered dysfunctional through disruptions.

At another Constitution Day event organised by the Supreme Court in the evening, Modi said Constitution is the country’s greatest strength to remove obstacles being created by a colonial mindset. He said India’s growth story is being disrupted by forces of colonial mindsetw.

In his Central Hall speech, the prime minister said the “biggest threat” to the functioning of a healthy democracy is when a party is run by the same family generation after generation and the entire system of the party is controlled by it.

Without naming anyone, Modi described family-based parties as “party for the family, party by the family” and added, “I don’t think I need to say anything more”.

In an apparent reference to the Congress and some other Opposition parties, the prime minister said in the form of family-based parties, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, India is heading towards a kind of a crisis, which is a matter of concern for the people committed to the Constitution and those who believe in democracy. He said more than one person from a family joining a party on the basis of merit and people’s blessings does not make a party dynastic, “but a party run by one family generation after generation and the family controlling the entire system of the party is the biggest threat to a healthy democracy”.

Besides the Congress, the Trinamool Congress, other parties Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Samajwadi Party, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), CPI, CPI (M), the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the Shiv Sena, NCP, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Revolutionary Socialist Party, the Indian Union Muslim League and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen skipped the event. -(PTI)