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Sunday, Dec 09, 2007
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BJP creating social discord: Sonia

Manas Dasgupta

It is keeping people in a state of constant fear: Congress president

No serious attempt made to increase job opportunities
Modi government indulging in false propaganda

— Photo: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi arriving to address a rally in Kapadvanj, Gujarat, on Saturday.

AMRELI (Saurashtra): Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday charged the BJP government in Gujarat with creating social dissensions and keeping the people in a state of constant fear.

She was addressing public meetings in Amreli in the Saurashtra region, Mandvi in Surat district in south Gujarat and Kapadvanj in central Gujarat in her last round of campaigning before the first phase of polling on Tuesday.

Ms. Gandhi ridiculed the BJP claim of fighting terrorism. She said it was during the tenure of the NDA government that terrorists were “treated as guests” and taken to Afghanistan and released by its own Minister.

Referring to the assassinations of her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi, and husband Rajiv Gandhi, she said the Congress was proud of its tradition of never bowing to terrorist threats.

Touching on local issues, Ms. Gandhi referred to the recent Chandni rape and murder case in the neighbouring Junagadh district which angered Koli community voters against the Narendra Modi government for its failure to nab the culprits. Ms. Gandhi said the Chandni episode was an example of the BJP’s maladministration and comment on the deteriorating law and order situation.

In tribal-dominated Mandvi, she enumerated the pro-poor and pro-tribal programmes of the UPA government at the Centre. In Kapadvanj, she referred to the Narmada dam project and said it would not have reached its present level had the Manmohan Singh government not backed it up fully, a stand the NDA government failed to take during its regime.

Reiterating her party’s claim that the Centre was extending all necessary assistance to Gujarat and did not discriminate against any State on political grounds, Ms. Gandhi said thousands of crores of rupees had been sent to the State under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and many other Centrally-sponsored schemes. “If you still see no development in the State, you should know whose fault it is; it certainly is not the fault of the Congress and its government at the Centre,” she said.

Claiming that no one was “safe in Gujarat,” she said the State government had not made any serious attempt to increase job opportunities for the unemployed, remunerative returns to farmers or ensure women’s protection.

About Mr. Modi’s allegation that the Centre deprived lakhs of poor families of the benefits of the Below Poverty Line (BPL) schemes, Ms. Gandhi said it was a “blatant lie.” She said the BJP government was not disclosing the truth before the people that a review for BPL families was carried out during the NDA regime and not when the Congress came to power.

Ms. Gandhi repeatedly charged the Modi administration with indulging in false propaganda and touting all Central-aided projects as the State’s own.

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