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BJP politicising terror: Congress

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Congress general secretary and chairman of its media department Veerappa Moily on Saturday criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party for politicising terror and the economic issues.

“Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani thinks that by politicising terrorism and the [current] economic issues, he can gain electorally.”

He said it was “far from the truth” that at Friday’s briefing National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan had meekly agreed to Mr. Advani’s demand for an “investigation” into charges of torture by the investigating police made by the Malegaon case accused Pragnya Singh Thakur.

“The fact is that the affidavit by Pragnya Singh was filed in court. That matter is sub judice. It is for the court to see that her allegations are looked into. It is also a fact that no accused should be tortured. If, however, an allegation of this kind is made by the Leader of Opposition, the government cannot simply say the matter is in court. There are processes — through the public prosecutor and through the proper channels the matter can be looked into.”

He pointed out when Muslim leaders met the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi in separate delegations to allege some wrongdoing by the police in the Batla House incident, senior BJP leaders said the government was soft on terror. “When Mr. Advani makes a similar charge against the investigating police, is he being soft on terror?”

He made the point that “if one or two Army men are suspected in the terror case, that by no means can be taken as an attempt to denigrate the Army. Our Army has the highest morale and we are proud of its many achievements.”

It is wrong of the BJP to try and politicise important national issues, but the party is doing it repeatedly. “When Gujarat was torn by riots, Mr. Narendra Modi [Gujarat Chief Minister] talked of Gujarati pride…. BJP president Rajnath participated in a conference of ‘sadhus’ in Panipat where he reportedly talked of civil war … if there is a civil war where will India be? If there is no India what country does the BJP want to rule?”

On the economy, he said Mr. Advani had talked about Dr. Manmohan Singh being a “weak Prime Minister” and about “parallel centres of power” at the Centre. Can a “weak Prime Minister” deliver one of the fasting growing economies of the world, he asked.

He said India had strong financial regulations put in place by successive governments.

In the U.S. credit went up to $62 trillion, which is “ridiculous.” This was not permitted in India. Bank nationalisation meant people could rely on them, he said.

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