The Hindu : BJP unmasked, says Cong.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 24, 2002

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National

BJP unmasked, says Cong.

By K.V. Prasad

NEW DELHI DEC. 23. The Congress today reacted sharply to the statement of M. Venkaiah Naidu, Bharatiya Janata Party president, that the Gujarat experience would be "replicated elsewhere" in the country and said that it only confirmed the ``real agenda and real face'' of the party.

Asserting that the challenge must be met unitedly by all the forces which believed in the basic principles of the Constitution, the Congress also challenged those constituents of the National Democratic Alliance who claimed to be secular to clarify their position.

Responding to Mr. Naidu's address at the party national executive here, the Congress spokesman, Anand Sharma, said that his statement was important since it posed certain questions both to the allies in the NDA and the citizens. The comment assumed greater significance as it came in the backdrop of the Gujarat violence and the electoral verdict, and was made at a meeting attended by the Prime Minister and other senior members of the Union Cabinet.

"This calls for soul-searching and explanation from the non-BJP allies of the NDA who have demonstrated by their conduct that they are in the alliance for power and political expediency,'' Mr. Sharma said. The BJP had conveyed to the allies clearly that it considered them ``servile subordinates.''

The Congress viewed Gujarat as an aberration, brought about by stoking communal passions and hatred.

More than half of the people of the State did not subscribe to what the BJP professed and a country, which has a history of tolerance and compassion, would not deviate from the path shown by the founding fathers, Mr. Sharma said.

Taking exception to the series of militant attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress demanded that the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre be made accountable for its inability to tackle cross-border terrorism in the State. It was the duty of the Centre to guard the borders and in matters of security and defence, the Government had the backing of all the political parties. "The Government must answer since it has the unequivocal support of the entire Opposition... why it has failed in effectively meeting the threat of cross-border terrorism," Mr. Sharma asked.

To a question about a possible link between the release of militants by the Mufti Government and a spurt in terrorist strikes, the Congress spokesman termed it as propaganda. No one arrested for militant activities had been released nor had the State Government withdrawn any such cases.

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