Jaipur: Responding to a question by ThePrint during a press conference on the sidelines of the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) Sunday, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said that he is “not bothered” by the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and that the Lok Sabha elections slated for later this year should be “held on issues”.
Asked if Modi’s unwavering popularity despite being in power for over a decade is a cue for the Opposition to concede that it has failed to effectively communicate its message to the electorate, Tharoor replied: “I don’t see our job as pulling down anyone. Mr Modi has a good image because he has invested an awful lot of time and effort and, frankly, all of you in the media have also been complicit in burnishing his image, then good for him.”
“I have no complaints about how popular he is but we are not looking at a presidential system my friend. We have a parliamentary system. The only people who get to vote for Mr Modi are the people of (his constituency) Varanasi. Everyone else is voting for individuals who represent them in Parliament and is voting for parties whose principles they may agree with; that’s ultimately how the parliamentary system is supposed to work.”
Tharoor’s comments come just a few days after Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s warning that if Modi were to return to power in 2024, there would be no more elections. “He won’t let elections happen,” said Kharge. “There will be dictatorship”.
Speaking to the media at JLF Sunday, Tharoor said that the Congress has a very clear message: “focus on the economy”.
“We can focus on the extent to which the aam aadmi (common man) of India has benefited or not from the existence of the BJP government. Mr Modi can win any number of petty contests, the question is will you vote for your own self-interest?” he said.
“And as a democrat, I fully subscribe to the rights of the people of India to choose who they want to rule it. If they decide that they want to vote for a particular individual basis, that’s not the way the parliamentary system is supposed to work but hey it’s a democracy they have the right to do that…I’m only concerned about the issues and I think we should really conduct this election on the issues. For me, in my constituency, that’s the issue… voting for people in the Lok Sabha to form the government in Delhi. Who do you want and what do you want them to be doing for you. That’s what you have to ask the voter,” he added.
Tharoor also questioned the use of central investigating agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) by the BJP to target members of the Opposition.
“How is it that all of their targets happen to be from the Opposition? Are there no other criminals in our country? No one has been able to give a satisfactory answer to these questions,” said Tharoor.
The Opposition has often spoken about the alleged misuse of central agencies, the ED and CBI in particular, as a political tool by the BJP-ruled central government.
“Moreover, complaints and ongoing investigations against many tend to disappear once they come into the BJP fold,” he added.
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