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Advani cautions against President’s Rule in Orissa

Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

UPA Government is only interested in vote bank politics, he says

Photo: V. Sudershan

Exuding confidence: BJP leader L.K Advani with party leaders Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Sushma Swaraj and Prof. Vijay Kumar Malhotra during ‘Vijay Sankalp Rally’ in the Capital on Monday.

NEW DELHI: Senior BJP leader and party’s prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani on Monday cautioned the United Progressive Alliance Government against imposing President’s Rule in Orissa.

“You have misused all the institutions, but misusing the Constitution there will prove very costly,” he said at the ‘Vijay Sankalp Rally’ organised by the party at V.P. House here to support the candidature of Vijay Kumar Malhotra as Delhi’s chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Assembly polls.

Raising the issue of terror and violence, Mr. Advani said while there is massive infiltration in Assam and Bodo tribals were being killed by Bangladeshi infiltrators there, the Government was not concerned about that. It was keen in picking out on Orissa which is ruled by an NDA constituent despite Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik having acted in the matter.

Deploring the violence in Orissa, Mr. Advani said: “I have met the Christian leaders there and stated that we will not tolerate violence against them.” Wondering why the Union Home Minister was not equally concerned about the situation in Assam or had not stepped in during Nandigram violence in West Bengal, the BJP leader cautioned against any drastic measures.

Noting that just the way 9/11 has been the single biggest act of terror till day, the December 13 attack on Parliament in 2001 was equally big, Mr. Advani expressed concern at how author Arundhati Roy has, in her book, held the Indian Government and agencies responsible for it. “This is suicidal thinking that is unheard of and now when Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma has laid down his life for the country while fighting terrorists in Jamia Nagar, similar questions on the encounter are being raised,” he lamented.

“The UPA Government does not want to save India or its people and is only interested in vote bank politics,” he said. Stating that “people are fed up with the Central Government and want an end to it as during its tenure prices have shot up and terrorism has increased,” Mr. Advani said the same was true of Delhi. He exuded confidence that the BJP would be voted to power both in the Centre and in Delhi and Prof. Malhotra would become Chief Minister.

In his address, Prof. Malhotra said the party was preparing its manifesto and charge sheet against the Delhi Government. He said plans were being drawn to make Delhi beautiful, happy, and secure and appealed to Mr. Advani to provide full Statehood to Delhi on becoming Prime Minister. Prof. Malhotra charged that the Congress Governments at the Centre and in Delhi not only lacked the will to tackle terrorism, they had even stooped to dishonouring martyrs like Inspector M. C. Sharma.

“Soft approach”

With the spectre of terror haunting Delhi and the low attendance at Ramlilas being staged across the city being ample proof of the fear that has gripped the Capital since the serial blasts of September 13, the BJP leaders blamed the “soft approach” of the Congress Government for the situation.

Former Delhi Chief Minister Sushma Swaraj said that in defending high prices and terrorism the ruling party leaders had only shown their apathy to the situation. “Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil says terrorism is a global phenomenon, but then all countries have special laws to fight it. In India, while the UPA Government had POTA to fight terrorism with, as the previous NDA Government had enacted it, it disbanded the law.”

Accusing the Centre of seeing terrorism with “communal glasses”, she said, “POTA was not anti-Muslim but anti-“mujrim” or “culprit”. Delhi BJP president Harsh Vardhan charged that the Sheila Dikshit Government had squandered away an opportunity even though it had got 10 years to rule Delhi. “There is not a single issue on which she can say that ‘I solved this problem’,” he said.“Farmers have been agitating for the last seven months, but the Government is not bothered; women are not safe but Ms. Dikshit thinks if a woman is returning home late it is being ‘adventurous’ and this is when they talk of making Delhi a Paris or Shanghai,” he said.

Confident that people will give a befitting reply to the Congress Government that has no place for Poorvanchalis in Delhi but want Bangladesh nationals to stay, and which shows dishonour to martyrs like Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma, the Delhi BJP president said these regimes are now on “ventilator”.

BJP general secretary Vijay Goel focused his speech on Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, charging that but for issuing “insensitive statements” she had done nothing to ameliorate the grievances of the people. Mr. Goel said when Bluelines were killing people, Ms. Dikshit said she would “prefer to walk than travel by a Blueline”. Then, he said, she issued a statement that the Government did not have any power to stop “Poorvanchalis” or people from UP and Bihar from coming to Delhi. “When the power tariffs increased, she reasoned that it was because some people stole power, and when meters ran fast, she said people were used to slow-running meters. Finally when Soumya was recently shot, she called her ‘adventurous’,” he charged.

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