Shimla: Lambasting the BJP-RSS combine for projecting Narendra Modi as the sole leader of the country, Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma on Monday warned that the 'Modi phenomenon' was ominous for parliamentary democracy.
Addressing a press conference here, Sharma said that through "an aggressive and systematic campaign" a personality cult around one individual had been created which would lead to dictatorship and concentration of power.
"An aggressive campaign with unprecedented resources has been launched to project Modi. But this government would not be of BJP or its ideology, but of Modi which is ominous for our parliamentary democracy," he said.
"The BJP-RSS, keen to grab power at any cost, created this personality cult around one individual with a sinister design. But it would lead to dictatorship and concentration of power in one hand which does not augur well for parliamentary system of governance," Sharma cautioned.
Accusing the BJP's prime ministerial candidate of bringing down the level of political discourse to a new low, the Union Minister said Modi was using intemperate language and dubbed him arrogant, intolerant and without any compassion.
Taking a dig at Modi for claiming at Varanasi that he was sent by God, Sharma questioned the necessity of elections. "It is insult of 125 crore people of India. When God has already sent Modi to become prime minister, why should we hold the elections at all?" he asked.
Lashing out at Modi for targeting the UPA, the Congress leader said Modi had lowered the image of the country by making false allegations against the UPA government to mislead the people for deriving political mileage and added that by doing this he put a question mark on the integrity of every decision and policy taken by the government.
Questioning the resources pumped in by the BJP in its campaign, the Union Minister said that as per his calculations, the money being spent by the party on advertisements, buying commercial space, publicity material, airtime in TV channels and FM radio and electronic media was about Rs 10,000 crore after the announcement of elections.
"BJP has challenged the government to order a probe into sources of money knowing fully well that it is not possible during the poll and asked the Election Commission to order a probe," he said.
Sharma said Congress followed the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi and believed in a liberal, secular, plural, multi-ethnic, multi-language and multi-religious India, but the BJP pursued the politics of communalism and confrontation to divide the country.
