BJP takes swipe at Rahul over his reference to 'authoritarian model'

New Delhi: The BJP on Thursday took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi over his reference to “authoritarian model” in his interaction with former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, saying those who had put in place an “accidental model” will pass off any show of “decisiveness and determination” as authoritarian.

“Rahul Gandhi complains to Raghuram Rajan of an ‘authoritarian model’. But of course those who had put in place an ‘accidental model’; for them any other model that has ‘decisiveness’ & ‘determination’ as its basic ingredients will be passed off as ‘authoritarian’,” BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said.

The Congress leader, he added, is probably unaware of the fact that this very idea of ‘antyodaya’ (serving the last man in queue) of Mahatma Gandhi and Deen Dayal Upadhyay is the backbone of the BJP.

“You just dream. We perform,” Patra added.

He also took a dig at the former Congress president over his reference to inequality, wondering if it is a case of the “epitome of inequality complaining about inequality?”

Talking with Rahul Gandhi on Thursday, Rajan said India should be “cleverer” in lifting the lockdown and should open up its economy in a “measured way” soon to save jobs, underlining that Rs 65,000 crore should be spent to support the poor amid the crisis.

In a first-of-its-kind dialogue broadcast on the Congress’s social media handles this morning, Rajan, who was in the US, deliberated on the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic with Gandhi.

Asked about the authoritarian model, which is questioning the liberal model, being on the rise in more and more places, Rajan said the central authoritarian model — the strong figure — in a world where one is powerless, is sometimes appealing.

“Especially if you can develop a personal rapport with that figure,” he added.

Another BJP leader and the party’s foreign affairs department in-charge Vijay Chauthaiwale said, “RR interviewing Rahul Gandhi is the sharpest devaluation of RR in the history.