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Friday, Nov 05, 2004

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National

Centre ignoring internal security: Advani

By Our Special Correspondent

AHMEDABAD, NOV. 4. The BJP president, L.K. Advani, today expressed serious concern over the growing naxalite movement in the country and said the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre was ignoring internal security.

At a function here, Mr. Advani decried the "callous attitude" of the Congress towards population explosion for the sake of "vote bank politics." The policies of the present Government can cause great damage to the interests of the country, he said.

He accused the Congress of winning both the Andhra Pradesh Assembly and Lok Sabha elections with the support of the then banned People's War (PW), a naxal outfit. The Congress had promised to lift the ban on PW if it was voted to power and "kept its promise" with the unconditional withdrawal of the ban, he said.

The BJP-led NDA Government, too, had offered to hold negotiations with naxal and other terrorist outfits. "But our first condition was that they lay down their arms. But the Congress Government put no such condition and lifted the ban on the armed terrorist outfit."

Mr. Advani said the PW and other militant outfits had links with the Maoist forces in Nepal. These outfits were expanding their areas of operation in eastern and southern States. The naxalite movements had spread to Karnataka and Kerala.

Infiltration

Another serious concern before the country was the large-scale infiltration through the Bangladesh border, he said.

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