Sunday, Aug 10, 2003
Sunday, Aug 10, 2003 |
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By K.V. Prasad
It was for the first time in parliamentary history that the Government had refused to provide information and documents on defence deals to this important committee, she said and wondered what could one expect from a Government ``which did not respect its martyrs and, instead, collected kickbacks on coffins for them.'' Addressing a public rally on the occasion of the August Kranti Divas in East Delhi, Ms. Gandhi virtually launched her party's election campaign in the capital where Assembly elections are due this year-end. Ms. Gandhi said that it was only when elections were around that the Bharatiya Janata Party raked up the Ayodhya issue under the impression that reality would be relegated to the background. ``Perhaps these people want to pull the wool over the eyes of the Lord. I just want to say Hey Ram! Save the country from such bhaktas who were destroying your values (maryada)''. Ms. Gandhi said that Government policies in the past four years had made the life of common people difficult and ``lowered the country's prestige''. ``Bragging about one achievement'' was not enough, people wanted to see for themselves the benefits of government's programmes. There was failure on all fronts. A Government ``drowned in corruption and greed'' could not realise the ground realities of life, she said. A Government more focussed on sticking to power could hardly bother about the struggles of the people's daily life. ``How can you expect justice from a government which forces the CBI to save its Ministers,'' she asked. The reference apparently was to the recent Opposition charge that the CBI had ``dropped'' the conspiracy charge against Union Ministers, L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi and others in the Ayodhya demolition case. She accused the Government of ``conspiring to topple'' a duly-elected Congress Government in Arunachal Pradesh and a similar effort was being made in other States in the North-east. Earlier, Ms. Gandhi's political secretary, Ahmed Patel, referred to the BJP's `Parivartan rally' scheduled for Sunday to be addressed by the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani. He said the only change the BJP leader was working on was to replace the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee. The August Kranti rally is aimed at creating an awareness among the youth of the sacrifices made by the freedom fighters and the role played by the slogan `Do or Die', given on this day in 1942, in achieving Independence.
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