The Hindu : Cong. rally vows to defeat BJP

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 30, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Cong. rally vows to defeat BJP

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JAN. 29. A large number of farmer and student activists of the Congress got together today to participate in a "Kisan Naujawan Maha Panchayat'' and "gherao'' here on Parliament Street where the senior party leaders vowed to defeat the "anti-youth and anti-farmer'' Bharatiya Janata Party in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The rally was addressed by the All-India Kisan Congress president, Balram Jakhar, and the All-India Youth Congress president, Randeep Singh Surjewala, besides other senior leaders such as Ahmed Patel, political secretary to the Congress president. It was also attended by the All-India Congress Committee treasurer, Motilal Vora, and AICC general secretary, Oscar Fernandes.

Launching a tirade against the BJP-led NDA Government, Mr Patel ridiculed its claims on growth of economy, employment and agriculture and alleged that deceit and deception have become the hallmarks of five years of NDA regime. Further, he alleged, that due to his government's all-round dismal performance, Mr. Vajpayee has lost the moral and constitutional right to represent the country.

Mr Jakhar in his address - which was loudly cheered by the farmer activists -- exhorted the farmers to wage a war on BJP to save the farming community as the Vajpayee Government had sold the interest of the poor and marginal farmers at the altar of the corporate houses and political expediency. Further, he said, the "so-called package'' announced by the Centre on the even of the polls was only an attempt to hoodwink and mislead the nation. Noting that India lived in its villages but still BJP and its leaders were not understanding the ethos, culture and thinking of the farming community, he said the Congress would launch a decisive campaign this time to unmask the anti-rural face of the capitalist BJP.

Similarly, the IYC president, Mr Surjewala also delivered a fiery speech in which he severely derided the performance of the NDA Government and held that it has come to be known for "hunger, unemployment and corruption''. Recalling how BJP had failed to keep its promise of providing freedom from "fear and want'', the youth leader said due to its obsession with liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, the "tiller of the land'' and the "sons of the soil'' have been left at the mercy of market forces.

Ridiculing the party's "feel good'' campaign, he said, BJP has actually failed the people and numerous scamps have also laid bare its morality. Pointing out that abolition of "Administered Price Control Mechanism'' has led to increase in price of petroleum products and subsequently urea and pesticides - thereby increasing input costs for agriculture - Mr Surjewala said this has greatly harmed the interest of the farming community. As such rather than experiencing a ``feel good'' factor, he said, the 800 million strong farming community was feeling deceived.

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