Cong attacks Shah over 'multi-party democracy' remarks

The Congress on Tuesday hit out at Home Minister Amit Shah over his statement on multi-party democracy and said if accepted, the thinking will deliver a "body blow" to federal India.

Accusing Shah of "belittling" India's multi-party democracy, Congress senior spokesperson Anand Sharma said the BJP chief is questioning the collective wisdom of the founding fathers of the Constitution.

He also said the NDA itself is an alliance of multi parties as he invoked BJP allies Nitish Kumar, Parkash Singh Badal and Uddhav Thackeray to respond.

"HM Amit Shah's statement belittling India's multi-party democracy is shocking and indicative of a thinking which, if accepted, will deliver a body blow to federal India. Given India's rich diversity, only a multi-party system can be inclusive and representative of the Union of India," Sharma said on Twitter.

"Questioning the collective wisdom of the founding fathers of the constitution is unacceptable. Reminding the BJP that the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) itself is a multi-party alliance and its member parties have been formed governments in states," he also said.

Sharma said he hopes that Kumar, Badal, Thackeray and others "are listening".

Shah on Tuesday attacked the Congress for its "culture of policy paralysis", alleged corruption and unguarded borders prior to 2014 saying people then wondered whether India's multi-party democratic system had failed.

He said the state of the country during Congress rule was such that the common man was clueless as to where the nation was headed and whether the leadership was actually able to steer the country out of this mess.

"After nearly 70 years of independence, there was a question in the minds of the people whether the vision of the founding fathers had really been realised. Whether the multi-party democratic system had failed to fulfil the aspirations of the citizens of the country," he said, addressing an event of the All India Management Association.