Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday lashed out at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, holding him responsible for the ills facing the country, while evaluating the performance of the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre and his own in the State.
“The members of the Union Cabinet under Dr. Singh function at cross purposes sending out wrong signals on various issues and the Prime Minister is watching helplessly,” Mr. Modi said after unfurling the Tricolour at the State-level Independence Day celebrations held at this Saurashtra nerve-centre on Sunday.
Referring to a wide-range of issues, from rising prices of essential commodities to rotting of foodgrains in warehouses and invitations for talks to Naxalites and separatist elements in Jammu and Kashmir, he said the Centre lacked consistency and unified attempt in tackling the issues.
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While lauding the developments and progress made by Gujarat during the last decade or so, with fulsome praise for the State police who helped maintain peace and tranquillity, contributing to the State's prosperity, Mr. Modi strongly criticised the Centre for “supporting and funding” the voluntary organisations out to harm and defame Gujarat. He, however, refrained from naming the NGOs.
He had a word of caution for the Prime Minister on Jammu and Kashmir and said any offer of dialogue with the forces in that State inimical to the interests of the country could not be made by the Centre without taking the nation into confidence.
“It is not something that Delhi can do on its own accord. The interests of a billion people in the country are also involved in it and no such step can be taken by the Centre without taking the entire country into confidence.”
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Referring to the growing menace of Naxalism and the Centre's weakness in handling terrorism, Mr. Modi said terrorism was not something that could be uprooted “merely by talks.” It needed to be “curbed with iron hands” and strong and effective laws, like those introduced in the United States after the terror attack on the World Trade Center.
Referring to a United Nations' report which said Indian laws were too weak to deal with terrorism, he said, “no effort is made or allowed to be made by the Centre to this end.”
The Naxalites, he said, received steady flow of arms and weapons and it was not difficult to identify the source and plug the loopholes. “What is needed is a national consensus and unified efforts to deal with the situation, but nothing beyond pious platitudes emerges from the Prime Minister.”
Criticising the Centre for its alleged “anti-Gujarat” attitude, Mr. Modi said the Centre in the name of human rights seemed to be concerned only with the “devil's rights,” and cautioned that this would not go unnoticed by the people of Gujarat.
He was all praise for the State police, and said at a time when terrorism and Naxalism had laid siege to the nation, “the brave officers and men of the Gujarat police have done the country proud by smashing the nationwide network of terrorists.” He said the terrorists had a free run of the country until the Gujarat police cracked down on them after the Ahmadabad serial bomb blasts. “Since then the incidents of terror attacks in the country is on the wane,” he added.
Since the 2001 violence, curfew, disturbances during religious festivals and other such untoward incidents had become a thing of the past in Gujarat. “There has not been a single incident of violence on any festival day. It is the prevailing peace and communal amity which has largely contributed to the rapid development of the State,” he said.