Amit Shah retreats from ‘Congress-mukt Bharat’ slogan

Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah on Monday asserted that the opposition has a key role in a democracy and said his party's slogan of "Congress-free India" means freeing the country of that party's "culture". Shah was addressing a press conference at Ambikapur town in Chhattisgarh's Surguja district.

Shah also said his some of the remarks on Congress President Rahul Gandhi should not be taken as a personal attack as he had only replied to certain questions posed by the main Opposition party leader.

"'Congress-mukt Bharat' means getting rid of the 'Congress culture'. Democracy is not possible without the opposition. It is a different thing that the Congress has been shrinking in the country," he said. "But it is the responsibility of Rahul Gandhi to keep the Congress alive, not mine," Shah said, when asked if the BJP wanted to wipe out the opposition from the country.

To a query on constantly targeting Gandhi in his speeches, Shah said, "It should not be considered as a personnel attack. He (Rahul) put forth some questions to which I answered." The BJP has done good work and therefore, it is getting support of the people. "If we continue doing good work, people will continue to support us," he said.

He said Gandhi was asked to give an account of the four-generation rule of his family as it was in power for 55 years. "Being the present party chief, Rahul Gandhi had to answer about the Congress legacy and I have to answer on the BJP's legacy. It should happen in a democracy and there should be no objection over it," the BJP president said.

Shah took a jibe at former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying when he used to go on foreign tours, nobody knew about it but when Prime Minister Narendra Modi goes abroad, "he is welcomed" by people of those countries and Indians based there.

The BJP chief exuded confidence that his party would retain power for the fourth straight term in Chhattisgarh in the state assembly elections due later this year.

With PTI inputs