The Hindu : Govt. charged with fomenting communalism

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 26, 2003

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Govt. charged with fomenting communalism

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI FEB. 25. Opposition members from the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal in the Rajya Sabha today lambasted the NDA Government for its "failure'' on all fronts and charged it with fomenting "divisive communalism forces'' and being "soft'' on issues such as terrorism and the U.S. "hegemony'' on Iraq.

Participating in the debate on the motion of thanks to the President's address, Natwar Singh, Congress leader, accused the Government of failing to provide security to the people by being "soft on terrorism." He reminded the Government of India's "historic'' role in taking a lead in the Non-Aligned Movement and of its "duty'' not to compromise with accepting the "hegemony of a superpower."

Mounting a scathing attack on the Government, the RJD leader, Laloo Prasad Yadav, accused the BJP of being the "mask" for the "Sangh Parivar, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the likes of Praveen Togadia and fake sadhus.'' The Government had no programme for the poor and its brand of communalism had brought the country to the point of "division.''

Charging the Government with "giving this country a new lesson in Hindutva,'' Mr. Laloo Yadav said that under the Vajpayee Government neither "mandir'' nor "masjid,'' Parliament or the country's borders were safe and secure.

He said every time elections were round the corner, the Government raked up the Ayodhya issue, "spread communalism and hatred against minorities.''

Directing his ire at the sadhus and sants and the recently-held "Dharam Sansad,'' he said what kind of conference was that in which fake sadhus, smoking "chillums'' and distributing "trishuls'' participated.

Referring to the NDA pledge of removing "bhay, bhookh and bhrashtachaar'' (fear, hunger and corruption), he said "this is a Government of scams, whether it is coffin scam or the UTI scam or the telephone scam or the disinvestment of profit-making public sector units.

"The Prime Minister had once accused me of "eating fodder'' but his Defence Minister (George Fernandes) and the BJP president (Bangaru Lakshman) were caught for corruption,'' he said.

Mr. Laloo Yadav shouted down attempts from the Treasury benches to interrupt him and when he was cautioned to avoid "unparliamentary language,'' he requested the Vice-Chairperson, Najma Heptullah, to allow him to name all "mischief-makers.''

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