Congress(I) attacks Govt.'s 'divisive' policies

NEW DELHI, APRIL 19. The Congress(I) today mounted a tirade against the Government for pursuing ``parochial and divisive'' policies and its failure to deal with the growing cross-border terrorism and naxalite activities.

Participating in the resumed debate in the Rajya Sabha on the motion of thanks to the President's address, the Leader of the Opposition, Dr. Manmohan Singh, said the mishandling of the Indian Airlines hijack incident had given a fresh momentum to militancy in Jammu and Kashmir.

The pro-active policy announced by the Home Minister, Mr. L. K. Advani, to deal with militancy in the State was a ``shambles'', Dr. Singh said and urged the Government to clearly spell out its strategy in this regard.

Expressing concern over the upsurge in naxalite activites in Bihar, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh as well as the insurgency in the north-eastern States, Dr. Singh wondered whether the Government had any strategy to deal with this growing menace.

He said the Congress(I) was willing to extend constructive cooperation if the Government moved away from pursuing its ``parochial and divisive'' agenda to wage a united war against poverty.

Though successive Prime Ministers had announced packages for the north-east, no visible development had taken place, Dr. Singh said and demanded a comprehensive strategy for the development of the region to remove the feeling of alienation from the people.

Referring to the Subrahmanyam committee report which went into the circumstances leading to the Kargil conflict, he said the report had pointed out that the Pakistani intrusion had come as a complete and total surprise to India and its intelligence agencies. The political leadership was not ``sensitive'' to the cross-currents in Pakistan even at the time of the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee's Lahore visit, he said and added that the Government should give up its ``false sense of complacency about Pakistan''.

Stating that his party would cooperate with the Government in realising the national vision of seven to eight per cent growth in the GDP to remove poverty, he said there was a need for major restructuring and revitalising of public sector units.

He wanted to know the urgency of the government in dismantling the quantitative restrictions without providing adequate safeguards to ward off the negative impact on small scale and agriculture.

The Congress(I) leader also regretted the fall in the flow of foreign direct investment in 1999-2000 as compared to the previous year.

Mr. Mohammed Salim of the CPI(M) criticised the Government for following an anti-poor policy and circumventing the important socio-economic issues to fulfill its agenda.

Mr. Karan Singh of the Congress(I) said the President's address lacked vision to enthuse the younger generation and suggested that there should be a consensus on major issues as has been earlier necessitated by Dr. Manmohan Singh.

The National Conference's Mirza Abdul Rashid and Mr. Gandhi Azad of the Bahujan Samaj Party expressed concern over the rising population and decreasing resources and sought the Government's assurance that the benefits would go to the weaker sections of society.

Mr. Azad also criticised the Government's decision to review the Constitution.

- PTI

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : National
Previous : RJD miffed at Governor sending rape case file to
           Delhi
Next     : Massive cover-up alleged in match-fixing case