'No party can control Constitution'

Kolkata: Stressing on democracy former Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Arup Raha has underlined that the people of the country always look for a secular political party which can take the nation ahead. According to him, no political party can take control of the Indian constitution.

The retired Air Chief Marshal’s comments came after BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha visited him at his residence in Salt Lake on Friday evening as part of the party’s outreach programme: Sampark For Samarthan launched by party president Amit Shah on the completion of four years in power.

While the Trinamul Congress and the Congress slammed the BJP over the visit, it is not clear whether Mr Sinha’s visit to Mr Raha served its purpose or not in view of the ex-IAF chief’s assertions since the Opposition parties have accused the BJP of destroying democracy and secularism.  

After Mr Sinha’s visit, Mr Raha said, “We are democratic country. Our fundamentals are very very strong in the constitution. I do not think any party can usurp that. For the Indian people, they are always looking forward to a party which is secular and can take the country forward.”

Mr Raha, who has been roped in by the Trinamul government as a member of the Cyber Security Centre of Excellence empowered committee under the information technology department, added, “I am sure it does not matter which party you belong to. So finally we come down to that. That is the basic characteristics of the Indian constitution.”

Mr Sinha said, “I kickstarted my programme by meeting Mr Raha, who is the pride of West Bengal, and gifting him the booklet about Modi government’s performance. He has made immense sacrifice towards the country. I have taken some suggestions from him  about what can be done in future.” Lashing out at the BJP Trinamul secretary general Partha Chatterjee argued, “The people of the state know the BJP thoroughly. They have done many things. They visited Swami Vivekananda’s house four times which they did not do earlier. They even tried to equate Vivekananda with Deen Dayal Upadhyay. But such efforts will not succeed here.”

State Congress president Adhir Choudhury alleged, “BJP means media hype which free publicity of the party. Its a large gameplan. Mamata Banerjee need the support of the intellectuals to oust the Communists from power here because they have a face in the society.”