The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is currently engaged in fire fighting the growing rebellion over ticket distribution within its ranks, is gearing up to release its “charge sheet” against the UPA government.
The document promises to be an exhaustive compendium of “unfulfilled promises and acts of omission and commission” by the incumbent government.
The BJP’s arsenal includes promises made in the 2009 Congress manifesto which remain unmet. “In a structured fashion the charge sheet will lay bare the promises that were made, but there is no evidence to show that work on those issues even started. For instance, critical issues of defence preparedness, national security and terror combating measures have not been addressed,” said a party functionary.
The formal document of accusations prepared by a committee that included the legal eagles of the BJP — Ravi Shankar Prasad, Nirmala Sitharaman, Meenakshi Lekhi, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi — will precede the release of the party’s manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections and the vision document.
And as in a charge sheet, the “crimes” listed will have detailed accounts of acts of “omission and commission”. “For a government not carrying out a responsibility is also a crime. When they take the oath of office and swear on the Constitution, they promise to discharge their duties. Failing that is therefore a crime,” said the party functionary.
“The UPA government will be targeted for acts of commission — taking decisions that led to corruption and for acts of omission — ignoring and undermining institutions like the CAG, CBI, and other mechanisms that act as checks and balances against malpractices like corruption,” the functionary added.
The document has been drafted with inputs from a cross section of society; feedback was sought from across the country on issues as varied as the state of the economy, development of regions and social problems.
