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Wednesday, Jan 07, 2009
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Terror: BJP charges Centre with inaction

Meena Menon

Mumbai: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Venkaiah Naidu has charged the UPA government with inaction on the terror front and called for strict laws to deal with the issue. Terrorism was the biggest challenge for the country, Mr. Naidu said adding that it would clearly be the main election issue for the BJP.

The laws passed recently were still inadequate to deal with terrorism, Mr. Naidu said at a press conference here on Tuesday. The party is gearing up for the coming Lok Sabha elections with a series of meetings in each constituency and a national council in Nagpur from February 6 to 8. It also plans a month-long programme from January 16 to prepare for the elections.

Mr. Naidu said the government should walk the talk and explain what it had done after the terror strikes in Mumbai. There was no point in replacing Chief Ministers, but political will was necessary to tackle terrorism. People were asking what the government had done? While war was not the answer, the government should share its actions with the people, he said.

Pakistan was always in denial mode but it was a known fact that it was funding terror activities in India. The government was duty-bound to tell the people what it intended to do. The terror strikes were growing out of proportion every day and all the Prime Minister was saying was that he would not tolerate them and things like that. Religion could not interfere in dealing with terrorists and terror had no religion, Mr. Naidu stressed.

He said stringent laws such POTA should be brought back. Though the BJP had taken up a united stance against terror, extraordinary situations required extraordinary laws. Wrong signals were going to the terrorists — Afzal Guru was not hanged still, POTA had been withdrawn and there was sympathy for groups such as SIMI. Even the Pakistani Ambassador, in a TV programme, questioned the credibility of the proof that India had gathered, quoting Union Ministers like A.R. Antulay.

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