The Hindu : Other States / West Bengal News : We must unite to throw BJP out, says V.P. Singh

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Wednesday, May 05, 2004

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We must unite to throw BJP out, says V.P. Singh

KOLKATA, MAY 4. The former Prime Minister, V.P. Singh, today mocked at the BJP's "Feel Good" and "India Shining" slogans at a time when the nation was passing through crises on several fronts and called for an "united action" to oust the Centre's ruling coalition from power.

"I have come here as we all want to move together. We all need to be united to throw them out," Mr. Singh said at a rally here in support of the Left Front-backed CPI (M) candidates.

Praising the Left Front for providing an able and strong leadership in West Bengal and successfully combating the communal forces, Mr. Singh urged the people to strengthen the hands of the Left forces."They have provided exemplary leadership here. Their cadres have given their blood to fight for their principles," Mr. Singh said at the rally, also addressed by the former West Bengal Chief Minister, Jyoti Basu. Assailing the BJP for dividing the people on the basis of religion, Mr. Singh said: "After the Gujarat riots, I regret having taken this party's support in 1989."

Referring to the BJP's poll slogans, Mr. Singh said, "Peasants are committing suicide. People are becoming jobless. The poor are hungry. But the saffron party is saying `feel good'. It seems they have lost touch with the masses."

Comparing Mr. Vajpayee to the Roman emperor, Nero, he said: "India is burning and not shining as is being propagated by the BJP."

Mr. Basu, who predicted a hung Parliament after the polls, said that a secular coalition government would be installed in Delhi in which the Leftists would have a definite say.

"A secular government will emerge through discussions. The Leftists will have a definite say. The Prime Minister, the constituent parties, everything will be decided through discussions," the nonagenarian CPI (M) politburo leader said.

He said Hinduism and the BJP's Hinduvta were "different altogether" since Hinduism "does not teach us to destroy others' places of worship."

Terming the NDA "communal and corrupt," Mr. Basu said that the coming elections represented a struggle to save the nation. He said the Front would not only retain its 29 Lok Sabha seats from the State but also wrest most of the others won by the Opposition.Mr. Basu criticised the Trinamool Congress and its leader Mamata Banerjee, saying that the Trinamool "lacked moral scruples and humane feelings.

In 2001, they joined hands with the Congress whom they had earlier dubbed as the B team of the CPI (M)."

On the NDA's `Feel Good' slogan, he said that even the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, had admitted that the "peasants were not feeling good."

— PTI, UNI

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