BJP blasts Congress

Amitabh Shukla

New Delhi, March 7

Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) President Rajnath Singh on Wednesday came down heavily on the Congress for its “appeasement policy”, price rise and failure to curb terrorism. He said there was a “crisis of confidence” in the people of the country due to the policies of the ruling party.

Singh was speaking at the “Parivartan sabha”, organised by the Delhi unit of the party to motivate and enthuse the workers in the run up to the MCD elections next month. The BJP had assembled top leaders of the party to give lessons to the workers in discipline and how the fortune of the party was on a roll after the victories in the civic polls in UP and Maharashtra and Assembly elections in Punjab and Uttarakhand.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani was a star attraction for the workers of the party. The entire BJP team from Delhi – state party president Harsh Vardhan, Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha V.K. Malhotra, former CM Sahib Singh Verma, former Union Minister Vijay Goel, amongst others were present in the rally.

Advani referred to 1958 civic polls in the city and said it brought him to the Capital permanently from Rajasthan. He said 1989 was the turning point in the history of the party as the number of MPs rose from 2 to 86. “The same phase has come after the recent victories,” he told the gathering of around 10,000 at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium.

Referring to the Congress President as the “super Prime Minister”, Advani said corruption has become predominant and the party is responsible for it. He also underlined the importance of discipline for the elections and gave a stern warning saying that the party will not tolerate it in any form.

Advani’s speech was not hard hitting, however, Rajnath Singh was to the point in espousing the issues on which the BJP will hit the poll mode. “We brought POTA but they repealed it without any alternative law. This has only helped the cause of the terrorists,” he said. On the Prime Minister’s statement that the Muslims have the first right on the resources, Singh said: “Only due to such people, the country was divided in 1947. We do politics based on justice and humanity, they do it on the basis of caste and religion”.

Singh thundered: “We will not allow reservations on the basis of religion”. The Muslims in the gathering, hankering for the BJP tickets, applauded. “See, the Muslim brothers too are with us,” he added.

The BJP president urged the party workers to get the majority in the civic polls. “If we win this election, no power in earth can prevent us from occupying the seat of power in New Delhi in the 2009 elections,” he said amidst sloganeering. (2007)