Don't talk like Musharraf: BJP

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI, AUG. 9. The Opposition parties were roundly criticised by the Bharatiya Janata Party today for not applauding the response of the Union Home Minister, Mr. L.K. Advani, to the calling attention motion in the Lok Sabha on the recent Jammu killings. The party regretted that the Opposition ``walked out'' of the House instead of appreciating Mr. Advani's claim that the Government had met with ``success after success.'' The recent massacres were not indicative of any policy failure.

The BJP spokesperson, Mr. Vijay Kumar Malhotra, argued that by describing the unfortunate incidents in Jammu as indicating ``failure'' the Opposition was guilty of ``lowering the morale of our security agencies which are functioning in very difficult circumstances.''

Mr. Malhotra said the Congress was ``making the same mistake it did at the time of the Kargil war'' when it was critical of the Government at a time when ``our soldiers were fighting gallantly and laying down their lives for the country''.

The BJP agreed with Mr. Advani that the Government had met with ``success after success'' in its Kashmir policy and its attempt to get the better of militancy. ``We are satisfied with the performance of the Home Minister, but you must remember that the fight with terrorism will be long and tedious.''

The party used yet another argument: criticising Mr. Advani was bad because this was exactly what the enemy number one, the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, was doing. Therefore, criticising Mr. Advani meant being on the same side of Gen. Musharraf.

Mr. Malhotra said Pakistan did not like Mr. Advani because of his hard stance (was he implying that the Prime Minister's stance was soft and therefore Gen. Musharraf was generous in his praise of Mr Atal Bihar Vajpayee?).

``Outside the House the Opposition leaders demanded Mr. Advani's resignation. They should know that Pakistan will be happy to see Mr. Advani out. Rather than criticise Mr. Advani they should criticise Gen. Musharraf,'' Mr. Malhotra suggested.

Mr. Malhotra ignored the suggestion that even the Sangh Parivar had been critical of Mr. Advani and had not applauded the Government after three big massacres took place in quick succession.

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