The Hindu : Cong. suffering from 'Gujarat phobia'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 14, 2003

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Cong. suffering from 'Gujarat phobia'

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JAN. 13. The Congress has become "nervous," and is suffering from "Gujarat phobia,'' the Bharatiya Janata Party president, Venkaiah Naidu, said here today, accusing the Opposition of indulging in "Gujarat-bashing, BJP-bashing and Hindutva-bashing.''

Addressing a press conference, Mr. Naidu took strong objection to a remark by the Congress spokesperson that there had been "one-sided riots in Gujarat.'' He described it as "Hindu-bashing and India-bashing.'' His counter-charge was that in 1984, there were "one-sided riots" against Sikhs. What had the Congress to say about that?

Making it clear that terrorism and security would be a major theme during the run-up to the State Assembly election campaigns, he equated the opposition to anti-conversion bill with encouragement of social tension and insecurity. The Congress opposition to the Prevention of Terrorism Act was also interpreted by him as a compromise with terrorism.

On the Congress spokesman's remarks asking for a clarification on which aspect of Gujarat riots was the Deputy Prime Minister sad about, Mr. Naidu said no clarification was needed as everyone knew what he was sad about and the entire country was sad, except perhaps the Congress.

Kishan Reddy, president of the BJP's youth wing, Yuva Morcha, said he expected representatives of youth from 80 countries to participate in the two-day international conference on terrorism, beginning from February 10. He had also extended invitations to representatives of all the political parties, including the Congress. Terrorists were generally young, and it was for the youth to take up the fight against this menace, he said.

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