Congress bereft of ideology, can't run multi-party democracy: Shah

Kolkata, April 26:  Attacking the Congress and its offshoots for being without a specific ideology of their own, BJP President Amit Shah on Wednesday said a multi-party democracy like India cannot be run by outfits lacking in ideology.

In contrast, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had never deviated from its ideals and principles since its inception, Shah asserted at a meeting with intellectuals here.

"Congress never had a unique ideology. It always worked as a special purpose vehicle for the nation's freedom movement. On the other hand, the Communist parties functioned on certain principles but their principles have become obsolete throughout the world," Shah said.

"A party without an ideology would not be able to strengthen a multi-party democratic system like India," he stressed.

Terming the BJP as the only party that practises internal democracy, Shah said a party without internal democracy would not be able to work for the betterment of the nation.

"Among 1,600-odd political parties in the nation, the BJP is the only party that practises internal democracy. It conducts the internal election after every three years and does not elect anybody party chief for more than two terms."

"A party that does not have internal democracy, cannot work for the betterment of the country," Shah said.

"For example, no one can say who would be the next BJP President after me as that would be decided through the internal election policy," Shah said.

"But everyone knows who would be the next chieftain of Congress after Sonia Gandhi or the successor of Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee," Shah said, evoking a round of applause from the audience at the historic Mahajati Sadan.

Shah also claimed that while there was a dearth of ideologies in several political parties, the BJP was the only party that had never strayed from the path of its ideals and principles.

"Since its inception, BJP has worked on the ideology of bringing development to every corner of the nation. BJP as a political party never got deviated from its ideology nor did it try to change or compromise its ideology," the party chief said.