He argued that party members are scared to say something against the leader or the decision taken by the chief. Photo: PTI
Removed unceremoniously as Railway Minister at the behest of Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, party MP Dinesh Trivedi today said that most of the political parties in India, particularly the regional ones, have become "feudal" where decisions are taken at the whims and fancies of their leaders.
"Sycophancy or 'chamchagiri' is not serving any leader," Trivedi, who is here as part of a Parliamentary delegation, told PTI.
"... Slowly, slowly for the last few years a very dangerous trend has come in where most of the political parties have become feudal. There is no internal democracies at all, issues are not debated, issues are not discussed.
"Whatever the head of the party I am not talking about one political party, I am speaking in general that is carried on, there is never a debate about it," he said.
In such a situation, he argued party members are scared that if they say something against the leader or the decision taken by the chief, they would not get the election ticket next time. "At the end of the day for me, country comes first, then comes the family and then comes the party," he said, making it clear that he was speaking in his personal capacity and not as a spokesperson of Trinamool Congress.
Trivedi, 62, was forced to step down as Railway Minister in March by Banerjee who was cut up by his rail budget which proposed hike in passenger fares.
"...if we are only going to serve not the party but an individual then I think, it is going to be very very dangerous development in India, which would be against all the tenets of freedom of expression and democracy," Trivedi said, leaving no one guessing who he was targeting.
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