Government stifling democracy, says BJP

Hours after the government withdrew permission to Team Anna to fast at the Jayaprakash Narayan Park here, the BJP on Monday came down heavily on the Manmohan Singh regime and accused it of stifling democracy.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is expected to meet on Tuesday morning to take stock of the situation arising out of the withdrawal of permission to Team Anna and chalk out its strategy before Parliament meets.

BJP president Nitin Gadkari and NDA working chairman L.K. Advani separately told journalists that the dictatorial attitude of the government was against all tenets of democracy and rule of law.

Mr. Gadkari accused the senior functionaries of the government and the Congress of indulging in character assassination of social activist Anna Hazare and questioned why the government negotiated with Team Anna on drafting the Lokpal Bill if the Gandhian was ‘corrupt'.

“The Prime Minister should introspect on this issue ... those who said there was zero corruption in 2G spectrum, those who first called Baba Ramdev a saint and talked to him three-four times, those who talked to Anna Hazare 10 times, then said these people were good,” Mr. Gadkari said.

The BJP said when Baba Ramdev and Mr. Hazare did not fall in line and stood their ground on corruption the government turned against them.

“Now when they [Ramdev and Mr. Hazare] are talking about removing corruption they are being targeted and the government is looking for ways to end their agitation,” Mr. Gadkari said.

The BJP chief asserted that UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Dr. Singh would not be allowed to muzzle dissenting voices.

Mr. Advani said that 2010 was a year of scams and 2011 should culminate into a year of accountability if the government was serious about eradicating corruption.

“When the year 2010 had ended, I had lamented that the year would go down in the Indian history as a year of scams. It is the desire of the country to let 2011 end up as a year of accountability,” Mr. Advani said after hoisting the national flag at his residence here.