Modi talks about Congress Mukt Bharat. I feel this is a fascist ideology.
Congress Mukt Bharat BJP ka naara nahi hai, jan jan ka sankalp hai. Be it dynasty politics, nepotism, corruption, communalism, divisions in society or poverty, getting freedom from all this is what I mean by a Congress Mukt Bharat.
Elections in India are not contests between personalities. They are ultimately battles involving political parties; promises and pledges that political parties make; the vision and programmes that political parties bring to the table. So although, Modi's style is 'I, me, myself,' I don't think 2014 elections as a Modi versus Rahul contest.
The Lok Sabha election is not a contest between political parties. It is a fight between Modi-Shah, and the country. Only when these two people are removed, will it be a proper contest between parties.
Real political issues cannot be manufactured by the leaders of political parties, and real ones cannot be evaded by political parties. The real political issues of the day declare themselves, and come out of the depths of that deep which we call public opinion.
Modi has misused institutions like the ED, Intelligence Bureau, CBI, RBI and National Statistical Commission for political gains and harassing his political opponents. Modi lost his credibility by all these acts.
The idea that two political parties can't come together to get a mission done is foreign to me - and unacceptable.
100 political parties put together can never defeat the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, come 2015 presidential election.
If there is a bulwark against the BJP juggernaut, it can only be India's regional parties. But they too falter in the face of the Modi factor and their own lack of commitment to a full time, 365 days a year, 24-hour-a-day political life.
For the Modi government, the calls for a 'Naya Kashmir' has paradoxically led them right back to old established political parties after a failed experiment at propping up an 'alternative' regime in the form of the Apni Party and other such flirtations.
See in old days, there were only two parties nationally, Congress and BJP... Now there are regional leaders. Time has come to pick up regional leaders in these national parties and build political campaign around them who can challenge regional parties.
[A]s it must be admitted that the remedy under the Constitution lies where it has been marked out by the Constitution; and that no appeal can be consistently made from that remedy by those who were and still profess to be parties to it, but the appeal to the parties themselves having an authority above the Constitution or to the law of nature & of nature's God.
I think frustration unfortunately, reflects a real breakdown in the political parties themselves, which is fascinating because our constitution did not anticipate political parties. They're not even written in the Constitution, there's no guidelines. When we look at the arcane processes of delegate selection in the primaries and caucuses, it's not in the Constitution. This is all created post Constitution. And yet I think we're in the middle of tensions between and within the political parties. They're not functioning that well.
First of all, there's no mention of political parties in the Constitution, so you begin American history with not only no political conventions but also no parties.
This is an election where there is a tea seller from the Opposition, and to defeat him, everyone has come together. They say Modi should not come. This is because those who looted the nation know that after 16th May what is going to happen.
Why not let the main parties wither? Because I know of no better vehicle than the political party to enable those with common values to come together and reach a position on issues that can then be offered up as a choice of programmes for voters.