NEW DELHI: Dynastic politics that extends from Kashmir to Kanyakumari is becoming a danger for democracy, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, a day after he swung the Bihar election for Nitish Kumar.
There is a national party which is in the clutches of a family, he added, warming up to his theme, but without naming the Congress.
The all-pervasive dynastic politics has added to the appeal of a party like the BJP, he reasoned, while addressing party workers as cadres celebrated the NDA's win in the Bihar Assembly elections.
Terming the Bihar polls results as "most special", he noted that the BJP is the only party which has seen its tally increase despite being in power in the state for three terms and added that it has performed spectacularly in states like Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, too, despite ruling them for long.
The BJP, PM Modi said, is the only one which "truly has a national connect" with the people of India. "From just two MPs and two rooms, the BJP’s influence today is all-pervasive, in every corner of India," he said amid slogans of "Modi hai toh mumkin hai (Anything is possible when Modi is around)".
The BJP, bolstered by its dramatic success in Bihar, is now eyeing West Bengal, where it intends to mount its "final assault" on the Mamata Banerjee government. Making a veiled reference to the political killings that have come to be associated with West Bengal, PM Modi said, "People who are not able to challenge us democratically are choosing to attack us, they are killing our workers." "But no one can win with this maut ka khel," he added, with intended sarcasm. (Assembly polls are due in the first half of 2021 in West Bengal.)
The prime minister said the by-poll and Bihar results have established that "development" will be the only political mantra in the 21st century; he further hailed women for powering the BJP's meteoric rise, describing them as its "silent voters". He also attributed the success in Bihar to the party maxim of "sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas."
