Is India heading for a single-party system? Javadekar's response

New Delhi, Oct 06: The opposition has turned bankrupt, having no issues to raise against the Modi government, said Union minister Prakash Javadekar while rejecting claims of political vendetta by some parties.

In an interaction with PTI, Javadekar rejected the opposition charge of "witch-hunt and political vendatta" by his government against its opponents and said it was the courts, not the government that had put some political leaders in the jail.

"That is absolutely baseless and bogus criticism. There are no charges against the government. The opposition has gone bankrupt," he said.

"Who gives bail or does not grant bail. It is the courts and courts are not the government, which have given the ruling," he said.

The Information and Broadcasting Minister said the courts rejected the bail plea of the leaders because they found a prima-facie case against them.

Therefore, "when they think that somebody might influence the investigation or witnesses", they keep him in the jail, he said, adding that it was the court decision, not that of the government.

When asked about the criticism that their "government was all about publicity and headlines management", the minister said both the government and the BJP were working round the clock for people and had thousands of achievements to list out in the past five years.

"The party and the government are working 24x7. That is why I can list out thousands of achievements from our end in five years," he claimed, asking who stopped the opposition from initiating programmes.

"If they don't do, they would not be in the news," he said.

On whether the country was heading towards a single-party system, a fear expressed by some opposition leaders, Mr Javadekar said it was not their job to run other parties, which some leaders were leaving as there was no "inspiration" left for them there.

"I am not finishing any party. It is for the party to keep standing. It is not my job to make other parties stand in the field," he said, asking, "Do you expect that the BJP should run all parties".

"When inspiration finishes, that is why people are coming to the BJP and joining. It is not for any other reason," he said.

He rejected the charge that the country was heading towards a single-party system, but sidestepped a query on whether such a system bode well for the country and democracy.

He said there were many parties in states and every party had the right to grow. On being asked if the BJP will remain the only party in the fray in the country, the way things are going, he quipped, "Why would we do so....It depends on others, not me. We are growing on our own strengths. We are getting more and more support from people. We are reaching out to every house and we are doing so continuously. Then what is the issue."

He said the BJP wanted to be with people and run a pro-people government and a pro-people party.
"This option is available to others also," he said.

Javadekar claimed that the BJP government was taking many new initiatives to take the country forward.

In one day we are doing so many things, he claimed, citing an example where over 10,000 students got together at Indira Gandhi Stadium in Delhi and assembled their own solar lamp.

He lamented that if nobody, including the media, got excited on such news, "then I am sorry. The country is moving ahead but we are in the old dogma where we will not realise the truth around us."

"This is the government that works 24X7. And, this is the party which works 24X7 under Amit Shah," he said.

Javadekar also claimed that the scrapping of Article 370 provisions was welcomed by people and the issue had caught their imagination.

"Article 370 happened and people are discussing it. See for 70 years people were waiting for that moment that 370 gets abrogated and that stands abrogated in one day with exact 370 words, with 370 MPs voting for doing away with Article 370. It has caught the imagination of people. The people from all sections of society are welcoming it," he claimed.