The Hindu : New Delhi News : Advani blames Congress for "bad economics"

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Wednesday, Nov 26, 2008
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Advani blames Congress for "bad economics"

Staff Reporter

“Inflation, terrorism and security are the main poll issues”

Photo: Sushil Kumar Verma

“Bad policies”: BJP leader L.K. Advani addressing an election rally in Delhi Cantonment on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI: Accusing the Congress-led government at the Centre of “bad economics” and “bad politics”, Bhatariya Janata Party’s Prime Ministerial candidate L.K. Advani on Tuesday said while the common man was haunted by the problems of inflation and terrorism, the country itself was facing a threat to its security.

Recalling the December 2001 Parliament attack and the pending clemency plea of the mastermind Afzal Guru, Mr. Advani said the Government’s failure to tackle terrorism had evoked criticism from even the Supreme Court. “Even the Supreme Court has criticised the Central Government for failing to save the country from foreign terror and said it seems that the government was colluding with foreign aggressors. Illegal immigration from Bangladesh continues, despite the terror strikes in Assam and other parts of the North-East,” he said.

Addressing a public meeting at Netaji Nagar in the run-up to the Delhi Assembly elections, Mr. Advani said the people in Delhi should be ready to exercise their franchise “twice in six months”. “The first time to choose a government in Delhi and the second time to elect a government at the Centre.”

Even as he urged the gathering to “vote out the Congress from Delhi”, he referred to the general elections due in the first half of 2009. He said during his tour of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh he realised that the people were unhappy with the Centre’s policies that had led to an “unprecedented price rise”. This, he said, was indicative of the Congress falling out of favour with the common man. On the issue of inflation that has emerged as the biggest poll plank for the BJP, Mr. Advani said: “There is need to dismiss this government. When the National Democratic Alliance was in power at the Centre, the country experienced the worst super cyclone in Orissa, the worst earthquake in Gujarat and the Kargil War. Yet the common man was not burdened with additional taxes and the prices of all essential commodities were kept under check.”

Accusing the government of “economic mismanagement”, Mr. Advani said: “Bad economic management coupled with corruption at its worst has led to the aam admi being the worst affected.”

Taking on Finance Minister P. Chidambaram for suggesting that inflation was a consequence of rising oil prices globally, Mr. Advani said: “We were also importing oil, but we did not import inflation.”

“We dared to brave economic sanctions imposed by the United States, but never deterred from the commitment to test the nuclear bomb at Pokhran. Manmohan Singh criticised us for carrying out the test and for risking US anger, but we were committed to putting India ahead in the race of nations,” he said.

On terrorism, the BJP leader said the Congress was “defaming Hindus” all over the world by describing the Malegoan attacks as “Hindu terror”.

“When Pakistan was sponsoring terrorism in Punjab because of which Indira Gandhi was assassinated, we never spoke of Sikh terrorism or Muslim terrorism. By calling it Hindu terror they are defaming Hindus. If Afzal had been Afzal Mohan or Afzal Singh, he would have been hanged by now,” he said.

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