 Online edition of India's National Newspaper Wednesday, Apr 15, 2009 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version |
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TALWANDI SABO (Bathinda): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, L.K. Advani’s comments on the Kandahar hijack issue indicated that either the then Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee, did not trust his Home Minister or he (Mr. Advani) was not speaking the truth now. Mr. Gandhi was dismissing Mr. Advani’s claim that he was not aware of the release of terrorists in exchange for the freedom of passengers of an Indian Airlines aircraft, which was hijacked to Kandahar, Afghanistan, in December 1999. The Congress general secretary was addressing a public rally, close to Takht Damdama Sahib here, after launching the party’s campaign on the occasion of Baisakhi as well as the birth anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. Ridiculing the BJP leadership for calling Manmohan Singh a weak Prime Minister, he asserted that for the first time Pakistan had accepted that its soil was used for terrorist activity against India. On the other hand, during the NDA regime, terrorists attacked and killed people inside the Parliament complex. Also, the then government succumbed to pressure from hijackers and a minister went all the way to Kandahar to release dreaded terrorists. Describing Dr. Singh as “sher-e-Punjab” (lion of Punjab), Mr. Gandhi said the Prime Minister was the “shaan” (pride) of Sikhs, Punjab as well as India, and under his leadership India registered unprecedented progress in diverse fields. Mr. Gandhi alleged that the benefits of the UPA government’s progressive initiatives did not reach the deserving people in Punjab as the funds provided by the Centre were lost either due to corruption or misutilisation. He called upon the rank and file of the party to fight for revival of the Punjabi pride and to ensure that the fruits of development reached the marginalised sections. Mr. Gandhi said Punjab had a special place in his heart for, as in-charge of the party’s youth affairs, here he received cooperation for reorganising the Youth Congress and the NSUI democratically. “What we learnt in Punjab is now being replicated in other parts of the country.” The Congress nominated youth in five of the 13 constituencies in the State, he pointed out. Sporting a “Kesari” turban, Mr. Gandhi greeted people in Punjabi: Baisakhi diyan lakh lakh vadiyan. Earlier the former Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh, Leader of the Opposition Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and State Congress officiating president Lal Singh garlanded Mr. Gandhi on his maiden visit to Bathinda and presented him the customary sword.
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