New Delhi: Sonia Gandhi, the Congress party’s longest serving president, on Monday defended dynastic politics and dismissed comparisons of Narendra Modi with former prime minister Indira Gandhi, her late mother-in-law.

Attacking Modi in a rare interview with India Today news channel telecast on Monday, she claimed there was “absolutely no comparison" between the two.

“It (comparison) does not trouble me because I do not believe in it at all. I have my own very clear view, there is no comparison... absolutely not," she said.

Her statements, coming in the backdrop of an ongoing deadlock in Parliament over the central government’s move to demonetize high-value banknotes, only reaffirmed the growing divide between the country’s principal opposition party and the government headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Sonia, who turns 70 next month, also said that she joined politics out of a “sense of duty". “When it came to my call, I felt I was being cowardly by not responding," she said in the interview.

She is a part of the fourth generation of the Nehru-Gandhi family—starting with Motilal Nehru—to hold the top post in India’s oldest political party. And if things stay on course, her son and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi will succeed her.

Defending dynastic politics, she said: “I see and understand that people do look at it in that way. In a family of doctors, professors or business people, one or the other within the family will chose the path of the father, right? There is a difference because in politics you are elected or defeated democratically."

Significantly, her comments come in the backdrop of a growing chorus within the party to elevate Rahul to the top job. Sonia’s health has been a concern since she fell ill during a Varanasi roadshow.

Asked whether she drew her “fighting spirit" from Indira, Sonia said: “Every sort of era in politics and history has its own problems, leaders and opposition. I think the Congress party is taking on the present dispensation."

As the Congress kicked off Indira’s birth centenary celebrations over the weekend, Sonia in the interview also said that the former prime minister had revoked Emergency because she “heard the voice of the people" and had empathy for the common man, which “today’s politicians lack".

“I don’t agree; don’t forget that when Mrs. Gandhi entered politics, became president of the party and later prime minister, she was ridiculed, she was made fun of, she was insulted. There was nothing which she did (that) was (considered) right... from within her own party even more than outside," she said when asked that there is a criticism there are no “tough competitive leaders" in the Congress to take on Modi.

Meanwhile, political analysts said that the interview is an attempt to re-establish Rahul Gandhi in national politics.

“The Congress leadership has been nurturing dynasty politics; the interview is a reiteration of the politics started by Congress leadership for several decades. Sonia Gandhi has to justify dynasty politics. Congress is in disarray and Rahul Gandhi is no match for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in terms of political acumen," said Bidyut Chakrabarty, political science professor at Delhi University.

“I wonder how can anyone justify dynasty politics. The least that a person must understand in politics is governance and Rahul Gandhi lacks this. To become a doctor or professor, one should have qualification and undergo exams and prepare for it. Just because somebody is born in a family of doctors does not make him a doctor," said BJP spokesman Sanjay Kaul.

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