The Hindu : National : Sack Lalu, BJP tells Manmohan

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Wednesday, Apr 08, 2009
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Sack Lalu, BJP tells Manmohan

Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday demanded that the Prime Minister sack Rashtriya Janata Dal chief and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad from the Cabinet and that he be arrested for saying had he been Home Minister he would have “crushed” Varun Singh, BJP candidate from Pilibhit, under a roller.

While BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley made this demand in Varanasi, party spokesperson Balbir Punj said here much the same thing.

“The Prime Minister should sack Lalu Prasad from the government,” Mr. Punj said.

He also mentioned that Congress leader from Andhra Pradesh D. Sriniwas had used objectionable language when he reportedly said he would cut off the fingers of anyone who raised them against the Muslim community.

No double standards

While the BJP has sent a formal letter of complaint to the Election Commission on Mr. Prasad’s comment, Mr. Punj said the Commission should not use double standards.

In short, it should suggest to the RJD, as it had done to the BJP after the hate speech of Varun Gandhi was reported, that Mr. Prasad should not be given ticket to contest the polls.

Mr. Punj said the Commission should have Mr. Prasad arrested as was Mr. Varun Gandhi. It was pointed out that the National Security Act was slapped on Mr. Gandhi by the State government for rioting by his followers the day he offered himself for arrest in Pilibhit and had nothing to do with the Commission’s instructions.

As Mr. Punj insisted that Mr. Prasad should be arrested, reporters asked him why the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar – in which the BJP is a coalition partner – has not arrested Mr. Prasad as the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh had acted against Mr. Gandhi.

Mr. Punj neither responded to this suggestion nor to a question why the BJP did not ask Mr. Kumar to do what it was demanding.

As the BJP been maintaining that Mr. Gandhi did not make the hate-speech and that the disc of that speech was “doctored,” Mr. Punj was asked why after the Varun episode, senior party leaders asked all party candidates to exercise restraint while making speeches during the election campaign.

“If he had said nothing wrong, why ask the party candidates to exercise restraint? Does that mean the BJP believes that Mr. Gandhi did use the language which should not have been used?”

Mr. Punj did not respond.

Corrections and Clarifications

It is Varun Gandhi. The first paragraph of a report "Sack Lalu, BJP tells Manmohan" (April 8, 2009) had his name as Varun Singh.

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