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Doublespeak by Advani: Congress

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Tuesday launched a broadside on the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L. K. Advani for “speaking in two different voices on the IC-814 hijack incident” and described him as the “weakest and most shameful” Home Minister the country has ever had.

Reacting to Mr. Advani’s television interview in which he claimed ignorance of the decision to have the then External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh escort the militants to Kandahar, the Congress said the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate was now trying to distance himself from a “historical blunder” committed by the National Democratic Alliance government.

Demanding answers from Mr. Advani and the BJP, the Congress organised an unscheduled briefing and fielded senior Congressman and media-in-charge Veerappa Moily along with spokesman Abhishek Singhvi to tear into the former Deputy Prime Minister’s security plank.

“It is a matter of fact that the directors of the Intelligence Bureau and Research and Analysis Wing accompanied Mr. Singh. How is it that the Home Minister of the country was not briefed by these two officials, who come directly under his charge? How can he now plead ignorance of these developments?” Mr. Moily said.

The Congress also dug out a statement made by Mr. Advani soon after the hijack chapter was closed to expose another instance of “doublespeak” by him.

To counter this, the Congress quoted Mr. Advani’s statement on January 4, 2000 – four days after the hostages were released. It said: “I fully support the government’s decision to release three Kashmiri militants in exchange of hostages.”

Demanding that Mr. Advani clarify which statement was true, Mr. Moily said: “If he was unhappy with the decision, then why didn’t he resign at that point?”

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