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Wednesday, Apr 15, 2009
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Why VIP treatment to terrorists holed up in Hazratbal, asks Modi

Manas Dasgupta

“In Kandahar episode, the effort was to save hijacked passengers”

— PTI

MODISPEAK: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi arrives for an election rally at Banaskantha in Gujarat on Tuesday.

DEHGAM (GUJARAT): The BJP’s star campaigner and Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, who launched the election campaign in his home State on Tuesday, described Manmohan Singh as the “weakest” Prime Minister.

Addressing a series of meetings in the Bhavnagar Lok Sabha constituency, Mr. Modi asked Dr. Singh what were the “compulsions” of the then Congress government at the Centre when it gave “VIP treatment” to the terrorists who had locked themselves up in the Charar-e-Sharif mosque, known as Hazratbal, in Kashmir.

Replying to the Congress criticism of the BJP-led NDA government having taken three dreaded terrorists to Kandahar and releasing them there, Mr. Modi said it was compelled to take that step to save the lives of some 400 people taken hostage by the hijackers. But what was the “compulsion” for the Narasimha Rao government, in which Dr. Singh was Finance Minister, to give VIP treatment to the terrorists holed up in Hazratbal?

Mr. Modi said the five terrorists who had entered the Hazratbal had not taken anyone hostage, and yet the Congress government forced the Army, which encircled the mosque, to withdraw, and allowed them safe passage back to Pakistan. Not only that, for seven days the terrorists inside were given “delicious non-vegetarian food,” with Dr. Singh’s “government treasury” footing the bill, before they were allowed to escape.

Claiming that the Congress always provided “weak” governments at the Centre, Mr. Modi said had there been a strong government in Delhi, India would not have lost the war against China in 1962, would not have conceded the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir or released some 90,000 Pakistanis taken prisoner in the 1971 Bangladesh war. Now no attempt was made to stop illegal infiltration from Bangladesh, nor did Dr. Singh take any step when his own Cabinet Minister Ram Vilas Paswan publicly advocated that the Bangladeshi infiltrators be given voting rights, Mr. Modi alleged. Had it not been the weakest government, India would have taken direct action against Pakistan after the Mumbai attack rather than sending delegations to the United States to plead with Washington for steps against Islamabad.

Mr. Modi had a dig at Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s daughter and son, saying Priyanka Vadra viewing her brother Rahul Gandhi as a “future Prime Minister” showed that the Congress had no faith in Dr. Singh.

To Union Minister Kapil Sibal’s remarks that Mr. Modi should be arrested for his rabid remarks, he said: “You have my address and you are free to arrest me anytime, if you have the guts.” “The jail that could keep me in is yet to be built in India,” he said.

Corrections and Clarifications

The second paragraph of "Why VIP treatment to terrorists holed up in Hazratbal, asks Modi" (April 15, 2009) said that the Charar-e-Sharif Mosque, is known as Hazratbal, in Kashmir. The Charar-e-Sharif and Hazratbal are two separate shrines. In October 1993, there was a militant siege at the Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar. In May 1995, there was a standoff between militants and the Indian Army at the Charar-e-Sharief. The shrine was destroyed in a fire.

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