Top Congress leader denies praising Modi

IANS/New Delhi“It’s senseless. I pity the understanding of the people who said that I praised Modi,” Dwivedi said at a conference which was earlier addressed by Congress leader Ajay Maken.“Who said that Modi was a symbol of Indian-ness? It’s the Congress that has been the symbol of Indian-ness,” Dwivedi said.“What I meant was Modi and the BJP have been successful in making people believe that they are close to them and they represent the people,” the Congress general secretary said.Expressing surprise over “how people could go wrong,” Dwivedi, who got a notice to explain his stand on the issue, said the Congress could not do what the BJP and its leaders like Modi succeeded in doing.“They (the BJP and Modi) made people believe that they were with them, the Congress could not do it and that was our failure,” Dwivedi said.In order to rationalise the “mistake,” Dwivedi said, “people, including you, me and everybody,” have limitation in understanding things and some may have “projected” it in their own way.“That’s why the controversy emerged,” he said.“I know what Indian-ness is all about...Look at my first book, whom I made symbol of Indian-ness there. I don’t need any lecture on it from anybody...I understand what it is,” he said, reacting to Maken’s remark that Dwivedi did not understand the term and the Congress dissociates itself from him over the issue.Maken said the Congress follows the principles of Mahatma Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda, Kabir on “Indian-ness”, not that of the BJP leader.“Under Modi’s seven-month rule, there have been incidents of riots in Trilokpuri and churches are being burnt, women are being asked to produce more children, terms like Ramzada is being used,” he said, and asked if this was the “Indian-ness” which Dwivedi was talking about.“We cannot do anything if someone from the Congress says whatever Dwivedi said, but the party high command will surely take action against it,” he said.Dwivedi’s thoughts on Indian-ness and Modi are not those of the party and “we criticise it,” Maken said. In other political developments, Aam Aadmi Party founding member Shanti Bhushan said making Kiran Bedi the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate in Delhi was a “master stroke” and that she would make a better chief minister than party chief Arvind Kejriwal.Kejriwal, however, played down the comment, saying it would not cause any damage.“Kiran and Arvind were both part of the Anna movement, it is definitely a master stroke by the BJP because it is a success of the Anna movement,” Shanti Bhushan said.“People want somebody to be the chief minister who has an honest image...If a person who is a crusader against corruption becomes the chief minister, people will be happy,” Bhushan said.Bhushan was part of the Jan Lokpal movement and India Against Corruption led by social crusader Anna Hazare.“Perhaps she would make a much better chief minister because there is so much being said against Arvind,” Bhushan told Times Now news channel.Kejriwal played down the statement, saying it only displayed the internal democracy within the party.