New Delhi, Nov. 11: The Congress today released a statement saying the nation had been caught up in a "personality cult", fishing in the BJP's troubled waters, although last night's fireworks set off by L.K. Advani and three sidelined veterans surprised few in the Opposition party.
Many Congress leaders had often spoken about what they described as pent-up feelings within the BJP and were expecting an outburst sooner than later.
P. Chidambaram reflected this sentiment in a terse tweet. "On the eve of Diwali, we are witnessing the first fireworks. No surprises there," the former finance minister said.
While the BJP's Diwali had anyway been spoiled by the Bihar verdict, the Congress has linked the quartet's outburst to the " chaal, charitra and chehra" of the BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his trusted lieutenant, party chief Amit Shah.
Some Congress leaders saw in the statement the veterans released yesterday as the "first signs" of rebellion against "the suffocating capture of the BJP by Modi loyalists". In a jibe at finance minister Arun Jaitley, one of them, Salman Soz, wondered: "Who is behind the #MargdarshakRevolt? Who manufactured this crisis?"
Congress communications chief Randeep Surjewala issued a formal statement today, saying "Suffocation of (the) BJP's Margdarshak Mandal reaffirms what the entire country knew all along", referring to the virtually voice-less panel Advani and fellow veteran Murli Manohar Joshi have been relegated in the new BJP dispensation.
The statement said the nation has been "caught up in a personality cult where one individual has become bigger than 125 crore people", adding: "Democracy has no place for the word - I. Very meaning of democracy lies in - We."
"On the contrary," the statement went on, "Modi's brand style is one-way communication. Modi conducts his own ' man(n) ki baat' but listens to none. Net consequence is policy paralysis, decision paralysis and delegation paralysis in the country. We hope that sane advice of Margdarshak Mandal will be heard to reform the chaal, charitra and chehra by Modi, Shah and the coterie."
It was Rahul Gandhi who had during the 2014 general election cautioned against developing a personality cult, stressing on collective responsibility in solving the country's problems. The Congress vice-president has since repeatedly dwelt on Modi's approach, both within the country and abroad.
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi advised Modi to heed the veterans, reminding him that he had, in the past, often described Advani as "the greatest teacher".
On Saturday, a day before Advani's 88th birthday, Modi had described the veteran as the "best teacher" for " karyakartas like us".
"You can abuse us all day and night, but please pay attention to those who you call the margdarshak mandal and the leader... you called the person from whom you learnt the most," Singhvi said.
Singhvi also pointed out that the list of dissenters was long, including Advani, Joshi, Yashwant Sinha, Shanta Kumar, Arun Shourie and Shatrughan Sinha.
The Congress leadership suspects the RSS would order a crackdown on the rebels but is confident the churning will intensify in the coming days. The party plans to use the statement issued by the BJP veterans during Parliament's winter session, scheduled to begin later this month.
The part of the statement that has thrilled Congress leaders the most is: "...the way the party is being forced to kowtow to a handful and how its consensual character has been destroyed."
