The Congress on Thursday dared Narendra Modi to an open debate on his governance model in Gujarat, while rubbishing his attack on the United Progressive Alliance over the economic slowdown.
In a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party on various issues, Union minister Manish Tewari also accused it of practising "fascism" over the latter's tirade against Amartya Sen and wondered why the Opposition should "quibble" over the 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 about 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. People of the country 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 the lack of leadership and policy paralysis in United Progressive Alliance are responsible for the bad state of the economy.
To a question on whether he was also challenging Modi for a debate on the issue of human rights violation in Gujarat, the Congress leader said that this is "something so open" and known that there is no need for a debate on it.
On the BJP's charge -- that Planning Commission data showing a fall in the number of people living below the poverty line was a conspiracy to deprive the poor of the benefits of government schemes -- Tewari said he was "amazed that any political party can really quibble over the rate of poverty coming down".
"This is actually the difference of the ideologies. While 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," the Union minister said.
Justifying the Planning Commission data on poverty, Tewari said that they show that the reduction rate of poverty during UPA's term was much quicker than during the regime of non-UPA parties when the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance ruled.
Tewari said he was surprised that while any political party would be proud of the 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 did not want Modi to become India's prime minister as he does not have secular credentials.
The prominent economist had also criticised Modi's model of governance, saying he did not approve of it.
The BJP strongly reacted to it, with party Member of Parliament Chandan Mitra leading the pack.
While maintaining that he has great personal regard for Mitra, Tewari said it was "eminently regrettable" that BJP resorted not only to the "ignominy" of asking Sen to return the Bharat Ratna, but some of the spokespersons of the party also asked the veteran economist to return the Nobel Prize.
"What kind of a mentality is this? What is this if not Fascism? Either you are with us or against us and if you are against us, return the Bharat Ratna. What wrong has Amartya Sen 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 think the voice of others should be muzzled with a tape,” he said.
Asked whether the Congress is ready for a debate between Modi and Rahul Gandhi, Tewari said the BJP leader was a chief minister while he is a Union minister and hence, Modi should first participate in a debate with him.
Tewari declined to endorse or criticise the act of more than 60 MPs who wrote to US President Barack Obama recently to seek denial of a visa to Modi.
Tewari said there were "contradictions galore" in the remarks of the BJP president, which tell the story of the BJP.
"One day he says that the US should give visa to Modi, the next day he criticises the US. What to do when there are contradictions galore," he said.
To questions about the letter by MPs to the Obama administration, Tewari said he does not believe he should sit in judgment about what an MP has done.
"It is for them to answer. But the fact of the matter is that a country, for the reasons that are in public domain, has decided that certain persons should not be allowed to set foot on the soil of that country," he said.
Asked about the controversy over some fake signatures in the letter, he said no other person can decide whether the signatures were fake or real and this should be left to the MPs’ wisdom to explain.
Asked whether the government was hopeful about the passage of the Food Security Bill, he said there are certain decisions which should be beyond the ambit of politics and food security is one of them.
