The Hindu : New Delhi News : BJP to take up blasts as major issue for polls

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Monday, Sep 15, 2008
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BJP to take up blasts as major issue for polls

Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

The Government is sleeping over the matter and lacks the will to act: Vardhan

NEW DELHI: At a time when the serial blasts in Delhi have added to the sense of despondency among people through the “it could have been me” syndrome, the Delhi BJP leaders are sure to make it a major issue in the Assembly elections as they believe that the Congress Governments in Delhi and at the Centre are not serious about taking a tough stance against terrorism.

On his return to Delhi from Bangalore on Sunday morning, Delhi BJP president Harsh Vardhan visited the hospitals where the injured are admitted and went to the sites of the blasts. He charged that “the Government is sleeping over the matter and lacks the will to act.”

‘Inability of agencies’

Dr. Vardhan said serial blasts have also exposed the inability of the security agencies as Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had personally informed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Home Minister Shivraj Patil and the National Security Adviser about investigations into the Ahmedabad and Surat blasts revealing that Delhi could be the next target of the terrorists. The BJP leader said, “the problem with the Congress is that it does not see who is anti-national and is more concerned about its vote bank than anything else.” Stating that the Delhi Government has been sitting on the file of Parliament attack case accused Afzal Guru and the Centre has been soft-pedalling the issue of Bangladesh nationals and Kashmiri separatists, he said BJP would raise all these issues during the Delhi elections.

Questioning why Delhi police has not been able to work out the Sarojini Nagar and the other blasts in Delhi so far, the BJP leader said the need of the hour was to tackle terrorism with a strong hand. “But the Congress has done away with POTA and two of the Union Cabinet Ministers have advocated the need to lift the ban on SIMI. That just shows how serious the party is about terrorism.”

‘Soft approach’

BJP national vice-president Vijay Goel aired similar sentiments and said “people are paying with their lives due to the soft approach of the Government against terrorists. Since the Mumbai serial blasts, not one person has been punished for terrorism in the country. This is also affecting the morale of the investigating and security agencies,” he said, adding that Congress Governments have only mouthed platitudes and done little else to prevent recurrence of terrorist strikes.

“Terrorism is now knocking at people’s doors. Anyone could have been the victim of these strikes on Saturday. But rather than ensuring that the culprits are brought to book, the Government only appeals to us to cooperate in the fight against terror. We are with the Government, but it is doing nothing to deal with terror,” Mr. Goel said.

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