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Advani’s book a bundle of lies: Congress

JAIPUR: The Congress here continued its tirade against BJP leader L. K. Advani’s new book, “My Country My Life”, terming it as a “bundle of lies” and an attempt to “whitewash” his misdeeds and wrong decisions as the country’s Home Minister. The party would expose ten lies of Mr. Advani from the references made in the book, it said.

“It would have been befitting if the book had been named ‘My Country My Life and My Lies’,” said Congress spokesperson Mohan Prakash talking to journalists here. “The book is full of lies and misleading observations. Some of them have already been challenged by the likes of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah,” he observed.

Challenging Mr. Advani’s observation that he was not aware of Defence Minister Jaswant Singh accompanying three terrorists in the aircraft to Khandahar to secure the release of hostages on board Indian Airlines’ flight on December 24, 1999, Mr. Prakash said that as Home Minister who was heading the Crisis Management Committee, he (Mr. Advani) could not have missed this vital information. “If he did not know, what was he doing as Home Minister?” Mr. Prakash asked.

The Congress leader, who also made a rather shocking “revelation” that Rs.200 crore was paid as ransom for the release of hostages, said both the then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Jaswant Singh owed an explanation to the nation as to what all transpired in the decision-making regarding the freeing of the Kashmiri hostages who included Maulana Masood Azhar, who later founded the terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed.

“One of the protagonists in the high drama might perhaps write about all this one day as there were others too in the plane including the then heads of RAW and the Intelligence Bureau on the mission. My charge is that Rs.200 crore was carried in the aircraft and paid as ransom money for the release of the hostages,” said Mr. Prakash, challenging the BJP to refute the charge.

Mr. Prakash said the payment of ransom proved detrimental for the country’s security later as Maulana Masood Azhar used the fund for raising his outfit. “Afzal Guru, who was involved in the attack on the Indian Parliament later, had links with Jaish-e-Mohammed,” he pointed out.

“The book is an attempt to justify major failures of the National Democratic Alliance government such as the Agra summit and the Kargil intrusion by Pakistan forces,” said Mr. Prakash.

Replying to criticism that no Congress leader turned up at the release of the book in New Delhi on March 19, Mr. Prakash hinted that the invitation too was not extended with any personal touch.

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