The Congress it seems, has gathered some courage finally and bleakly looks mature as it has dared Narendra Modi to an open debate on his governance model in Gujarat, while rubbishing his attack on the government for the economic mess that the country is in today. In a scathing attack on the BJP on various issues, Union minister Manish Tewari also accused it of practising "fascism" over the latter's tirade against Nobel winner Amartya Sen and wondered why the Opposition should "quibble" over poverty rate coming down. “The Gujarat chief minister is in the habit of making one or the other statement daily…If he is so confident of the governance model of Gujarat, he should come and debate it with
us any day on a place and format of his choice. "It will be crystal clear how much strength that governance model has…The people will judge…they would be able to sift the fact from the fiction," Tewari told reporters.
Tewari's reaction came a day after Modi alleged that lack of leadership and policy paralysis in UPA are responsible for the bad state of the economy. To a question whether he was also challenging Modi for a debate on the issue of human rights violation in Gujarat, the Congress leader said this is "something so open" and known that there is no need for a debate on it. On BJP's charge that the Planning Commission data showing a steep fall in the number of the poor is a "conspiracy" to deprive the poor of the benefits ofgovernment schemes, Tewari said he is "amzed that any political party can really quibble over the rate poverty coming down". "This is actually the difference of the ideologies. While The UPA is of the belief that poverty should be removed from the country, BJP believes in removing the poor. Our belief is that hunger should go away. They believe those hungry should go away," he said. Justifying the data on poverty, Tewari said that they show that the reduction rate of poverty during UPA's term was much quicker than in the regime of non-UPA parties when the BJP-led
NDA ruled for the maximum time. Tewari also said he is surprised that while any political party would be proud of dwindling number of poor people in the nation, it is surprising that some party raises objection as to why the poverty rate is coming down. He also hit out at the BJP for its attack on Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, who said he does not want Modi to become the prime minister as he does not have secular credentials. The prominent economist also criticised Modi's model of governance, saying he did not approve of it. BJP strongly reacted to it with party MP Chandan Mitra leading the pack saying if BJP comes to power, they will strip Sen of his Bharat Ratna, conferred on the economist in 1999 BJP was in
power at the Centre.
While maintaining that he has great personal regard for Mitra, Tewari said it is "eminently regrettable" that BJP resorted not only to the "ignominy" of asking Sen to return Bharat Ratna, something that happened for the first time in the country, but some of the spokespersons of that party also asked the veteran economist to return the Nobel prize "What kind of mentality is it. What is this if not Fascism. That either you are with us or against us and if you are against us, return the Bharat Ratna. What wrong Amartya Sen has done? Does the BJP believe in the freedom of expression. This is a big blow to the right to express, write and speak," Tewari said While the Gujarat chief minister gives statements daily and his party considers important its right to speak, "they thing the voice of others should be muzzled with a tape". Asked whether Congress is ready for a debate Between Modi and Rahul Gandhi, Tewari said the BJP leader is a chief minister while he is a Union minister and hence let Modi first debate with him.
Tewari also took a dig at BJP president Rajnath Sing over the Modi visa issue but declined to endorse or criticise the act of more than 60 MPs writing to US president Obama seeking denial of visa to Modi. Some MPs have denied doing so.
