 Online edition of India's National Newspaper Wednesday, Mar 25, 2009 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version |
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NEW DELHI: Confident that the actions of his government spoke volumes of its performance, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday took on his opponent L.K. Advani and said it was for the people to judge who was fit to rule the country. Responding to questions on the BJP leader’s oft-repeated charge that the United Progressive Alliance had a weak Prime Minister, Dr. Singh pointed to Mr. Advani’s track record as Home Minister of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime. But, first he drew attention to Mr. Advani’s role in the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992.“When I look at his record, I understand that he played a prominent role in the destruction of the Babri Masjid. What else has he done? When he was Home Minister, Parliament was attacked. Troops were mobilised for months along the border and withdrawn without reason; resulting in the loss of thousands of crores which could have gone to the common man. The Red Fort was attacked, an aircraft was hijacked, terrorists were rewarded, and the Gujarat carnage happened. The country has to decide whether he is fit to be Prime Minister.” Dr. Singh referred to Mr. Advani’s visit to Pakistan where he found “new virtues in [Mohammad Ali] Jinnah.” PM from Upper HouseAs for Mr. Advani’s suggestion that the Prime Minister should not be from the Rajya Sabha, Dr. Singh charged the Leader of the Opposition with trying to invent new constitutional norms. And, he pointed out that he was not the first Prime Minister from the Upper House as his predecessors — Indira Gandhi, H.D. Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral — all started out from there. Asked to identify the Congress’ main adversary — the NDA or the Third Front — Dr. Singh said while all adversaries should be taken seriously, “it goes without saying that communalism is the greatest challenge; if we do not fight it, India’s integrity and prosperity will be threatened.” Earlier, in his opening statements at the press conference, organised at the Congress headquarters here to release the party manifesto, Dr. Singh said neither the NDA nor the Third Front had the will nor capacity to grasp the challenges. Both would take the country backwards. Referring to their positions on the India-U.S. civil nuclear deal, he said: “The Bharatiya Janata Party has said that it will renegotiate the deal and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) says it will abrogate it.” Lamenting their negative attitude, Dr. Singh said that when the world — particularly the U.S., France, Russia and Kazakhstan — wanted India to move forward, “here are two regressive parties which want to take the country backwards.” Dr. Singh was more scathing in his attack on the BJP, citing its endorsement of the speeches of the party candidate, Varun Gandhi, as a case in point. “Most shameful is the endorsement of the line young Varun Gandhi has taken. Such a mindset cannot take India forward.”
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