The Congress party on Wednesday accused the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah of being "power-hungry" and "hell-bent" on bulldozing the cultural identity of Indian states.
"Federal fascism is embedded in BJP's DNA. The power-hungry Modi-Shah duo is hell bent in bulldozing the cultural identity of the Indian states. We in the Indian National Congress strongly condemn the violent desecration of national icons like Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, a great educationist," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said while addressing a press conference here.
The statements from the Congress party come in the wake of violence during Amit Shah's roadshow in West Bengal on Tuesday. A bust of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was also desecrated. BJP and TMC have blamed each other for the violence.
"What has happened is because of the BJP under Modi-Shah duo, "mobocracy" is being actively encouraged and abetted. This is a larger issue which included the issues of federal structure, respect for regional culture," Singhvi claimed.
The Congress spokesperson also claimed that the federal polity is under "unprecedented attacks" by the ruling dispensation.
"The ruling dispensation is specializing in negative politics of destruction, demolition and desecration thereby vitiating the political atmosphere in the country. The BJP is using these tactics to superimpose its monolithic supremacy and its bigoted agenda on each state, thereby weakening the federal polity completely," the Congress spokesperson claimed.
Defending Congress' president Rahul Gandhi's decision to contest elections from two seats, Singhvi said, "Rahul sees it as an attempt to demonstrate inclusiveness."
The last phase of the Lok Sabha polls is scheduled to be held on May 19. The counting of votes will be done on May 23.