Sonia's comments in bad taste: BJP

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI, MARCH 19. The Bharatiya Janata Party today said the address of the Congress president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, to the Congress plenary session in Bangalore was ``in bad taste'' and ``indecent.'' The party, which has been carefully building up its image as the only ``nationalist'' and ``patriotic'' force, was stung to the quick by her charge that the Vajpayee Government had committed treason.

Yeh desh ke saath dhokha aur gaddari hai (it is betrayal and treason), Ms. Gandhi had said referring to the Tehelka scandal, which revealed the depths of wheeling-dealing in defence deals to the extent that senior party leaders were prepared to make a deal with a non-existent firm for non-existent goods.

The party spokesperson, Mr. Vijay Kumar Malhotra, said the Congress was not interested in a discussion and debate in Parliament, had rejected a judicial inquiry and described it as meaningless, and did not want a trial of strength in Parliament. By making Parliament non-functional (he admitted that the BJP had also stalled Parliament for 13 days on the telecom issue during the Rao Government's tenure), the party was leading the country towards fascism.

Mr. Kailashpati Mishra, BJP vice-president, went a step further and compared the ``patriotic, home-grown Vajpayee'' to ``this foreign woman daring to call Atalji a traitor.'' The party's defence seemed to boil down to stating loudly and aggressively that no one could doubt the Prime Minister's integrity, no one could be allowed to question his patriotism and especially a ``foreign woman'' who did so could not be tolerated.

Mr. Mishra tried to buttress his argument by pointing out that those within her party - Mr. Sharad Pawar and Mr. P. A. Sangma - had, at one time, left the Congress because a ``foreign woman'' could not be trusted with the leadership. However, he ran out of arguments when it was pointed out that those who had been with the RSS and the BJP for decades - Mr. Shankarsinh Waghela, Mr. Kalyan Singh, and Mr. K. N. Govindacharya - had hardly paid compliments to Mr. Vajpayee when they described him as a ``mask.''

A civil war

Mr. Malhotra went so far as to suggest that perhaps Ms. Gandhi wanted a civil war. ``The war cries from the Congress camp bode ill. Congress goons are attacking BJP offices in many parts of the country. Not only Parliament, legislatures in many States have been stalled. What does this mean, does she want a civil war?''

But within the rank and file of the party, the sense of shame continued to dominate. The RSS chief's remarks about ``incompetence in the Prime Minister's Office,'' the press conference by the Prime Minister's aides this evening denying they were influence peddlers, the fact that some of the senior leaders who are now in Government have in the past openly said they could not vouch for the integrity of Mr. Vajpayee's foster son-in-law, Mr. Ranjan Bhattacharya, the fact that the Union Home Minister, Mr L. K. Advani, was extremely upset and angry when Mr. Bhattacharya was appointed Officer on Special Duty in the PMO in 1996 - all this does not add up to an enhanced image of the BJP.

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Section  : National
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