The Hindu : Govt. has failed the nation: Sonia

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 16, 2002

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Govt. has failed the nation: Sonia
By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 15. The Leader of the Opposition, Sonia Gandhi, launched a scathing attack on the Government in the Lok Sabha today, accusing it of ``betraying the hopes and expectation of the people and failing the nation.''

In her 30-minute speech on the motion of thanks to the President's address, Ms. Gandhi covered a range of issues - Gujarat, Ayodhya, the northeast, and the economy - but the emphasis was clearly on social and political issues.

She was critical of the Centre's handling of Gujarat and Ayodhya. Accusing the Gujarat Government of ``complicity'' (in the recent incidents of violence), she demanded the Chief Minister, Narendra Modi's resignation.``His continuance is a affront to our democracy,'' she said, adding that the Gujarat developments were a result of the ``politics of hate'' practised by the BJP. ``The traumatic events in the State has demeaned us as civilised human beings and as citizens of a modern, progressive, liberal society.''

Targeting the Home Minister, L. K. Advani, Ms. Gandhi said she disagreed with his statement on the Gujarat situation, - ``it is at variance with facts''- and described as ``incredulous'' his explanation for the delay in deploying the Army that it would have affected the security on the borders. ``Why didn't the Government make contingency plans to deal with such a situation?''

Ms. Gandhi was also critical of the Centre's handling of the Ayodhya imbroglio.``The build-up and tensions were allowed to grow in Ayodhya,'' she charged. Accusing the Government of ``duplicity,'' she said while it favoured the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, it had said it was neutral and favoured status quo through the President's address. ``But it turns out that the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, had instructed the Attorney-General to plead for a religious ceremony as demanded by the VHP.''

She also charged Mr. Vajpayee with adopting an ambiguous attitude towards the VHP and not demonstrating the will to act against it. The ``dialogue'' initiated with the religious leaders was no substitute for ``firm resolute action.'' The Government had placed factional interests above those of the country and ``caved into communal forces'' after hardline BJP MPs wrote to Mr. Vajpayee.

On national security, Ms. Gandhi said there was no evidence of any clear-cut strategy and regretted that even three years after of its submission, the Subramaniam Committee report on Kargil had not been discussed. She wanted to know the progress on the list of 20 terrorists given to Pakistan and whether Islamabad had changed its approach to cross- border terrorism. She was also critical of Mr. Vajpayee's decision to reinduct George Fernandes as the Defence Minister before the Inquiry Commission, probing the Tehelka expose, had given its verdict.

On the Budget, she said it was ``full of tokenism'' and wondered why the Government was retrenching people during a period of economic slowdown. She also questioned the need to sell profit-making PSUs.

Somnath Chatterjee of the CPI(M) continued in the same vein and criticised the Government on Ayodhya and Gujarat. The people were wondering whether the country would survive as a secular nation, he said.``Secularism is dead as long as this Government is in power.'' He termed the Government's decision to send a member of the Prime Minister's Ayodhya cell to receive the ``shila'' from the VHP today a ``constitutional sacrilege.''

Vijay Kumar Malhotra of the BJP accused the Opposition of trying to ``fan sectarianism'' and ``pressuring the Muslims not to find an amicable solution to the Ayodhya issue.''

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