When veteran BJP leader, Venkaiah Naidu, decided to contest for the Vice President’s post, he famously said that “Now I do not belong to any party.” He maintained his stance even after being sworn in as the 13th Vice President of India when he said he was now an ‘all-party man.’
However, barely few weeks in his new role, his allegiance to the party he claimed he had quit is out in the open, raising serious questions on the sanctity of the post of Vice President.
While inaugurating a book authored by former Chief Election Commissioner, SY Quraishi, he said, “I used to say it earlier, but now I hesitate to say it because I am out of politics. Dynasty in democracy is nasty but it is tasty to some people. That is a weakness of our system.”
Naidu’s remarks came in the context of the comments by Congress vice president, Rahul Gandhi, on dynasty politics in India.
While speaking at an event at the University of California at Berkeley in the United States, Gandhi had said that most political parties were to be blamed for promoting dynasty within their ranks adding that this was how things worked in India.
Gandhi had also sensationally attacked Prime Minister Modi accusing of running an abuse machine in India. A nervous BJP had then employed more than two dozens of party spokespersons and senior ministers to go on TV to say they did not take Gandhi seriously.
Reacting to Naidu’s comments for Gandhi, Maharashtra Congress leader, Sanjay Nirupam, said, “Its unbecoming of Vice President to get into political mud slanging otherwise even we may forget about his constitutional protocol & izzat. (sic)”
Its unbecoming of Vice President to get into political mud slanging otherwise even we may forget about his constitutional protocol & izzat. https://t.co/BwP7RYZa7L
— Sanjay Nirupam (@sanjaynirupam) September 16, 2017
Using a constitutional post to take potshots at political rivals is nothing new for the BJP under the current government at the Centre.
Some governors appointed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi have been notorious for making vile comments even endorsing genocide. Tripura’s governor, Tathagata Roy, has been known for making vile comments on Twitter. His Twitter rant while justifying the mass murder of innocent people in Burma had earned him plenty of condemnation.