Shimla: Our govt will end personality cult culture started by BJP, says Shashi Tharoor

Shimla, May 28

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor today accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP of creating a personality cult that had never been witnessed before in the country. He said that the INDIA bloc would restore the political culture where the Prime Minister would be “the first among equals and the ministers will have their own authority and rights”.

Tharoor, while addressing mediapersons here, said the coalition government of the alliance would repeal anti-people laws brought in by the BJP government. “For instance, we will repeal the amendments made to the UAPA and the references to religion in granting citizenship to refugees from the neighbouring countries,” he added.

He accused the Prime Minister of running the parliamentary system in a presidential style and the BJP of being complicit in creating the personality cult. He said Parliament had been reduced to a mere notice board for the Prime Minister’s announcements and a rubber stamp for his decisions. “If you get a vaccination certificate, there’s Prime Minister’s picture on it. Ration bags in villages come with PM’s picture… Such things happen in North Korea,” he added.

Tharoor expressed his displeasure over the content of the speeches being made by the Prime Minster. He said that the Prime Minister should maintain the dignity of the post he was occupying. Tharoor added that he should have gone to the public with his report card of the past 10 years. “Instead of spelling out his vision for the future, he’s talking about the past, about Aurangzeb, 1984 Sikh riots,” he added.

Tharoor claimed that winds of change were blowing throughout the country and the BJP was on its way out. “The BJP is losing seats in the states where it had made almost a clean sweep last time. The Congress and its allies are gaining in these states,” he said. The BJP was deliberately trying to mislead people about the manifesto of the Congress, he added.

He said the coalition government of the INDIA bloc would ensure social justice and dignity to all people of the country. “We want our country to be a place where the mind is without fear and the head is held high. At the moment, there’s fear everywhere,” he added.