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NDA’s show of strength in Sonipat

— Photo: Sandeep Saxena

Readying for battle: NDA leaders Rajnath Singh, Parkash Singh Badal, L.K. Advani and Om Prakash Chautala at the NDA’s Vijay Sankalp Rally at Sonipat on Saturday.

Sonipat (Haryana): In the first show of strength since the return of the Indian National Lok Dal to the NDA, the BJP-led alliance on Saturday organised a rally here and attacked the Congress-led UPA government on the issue of terrorism.

However, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was conspicuous by his absence at the rally, where he was among the listed speakers. Apparently, he did not want to share the dais with Shiv Sena leaders in the backdrop of the attacks on people from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Interestingly, no Sena leader also turned up at the event.

This was the first rally by the NDA since the INLD, Haryana’s principal opposition led by the former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, returned to the alliance after parting ways with it following the party’s rout in the 2004 Assembly poll.

Addressing the rally, senior BJP leader L. K. Advani charged the government with failing to protect the people against terror attacks. He said the government had “failed” to execute the death sentence on Afzal Guru, convicted in the Parliament attack case.

Without naming him, Mr. Advani said that despite the Supreme Court’s decision the government had not hanged him. The BJP leader also accused the government of failing to respect the sacrifices made by security personnel who were killed while taking on terrorists.

“Nine security personnel were killed in the Parliament attack incident but the Centre by not hanging the person insulted their sacrifice.”

Nor did the government recognise the the supreme sacrifice made by inspector M. C. Sharma of the Delhi Police in the Jamia Nagar encounter in September.

Mr. Advani claimed that army personnel were “annoyed and hurt” by the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission.

The Leader of the Opposition also slammed the UPA government for not setting up a military school in Jhajhar in Haryana, the foundation stone for which was laid by the then Defence Minister, George Fernandes.

Referring to the cash-for-vote scam, Mr. Advani said the country recently witnessed the “worst corruption” case in its history when a range of leaders, from the Prime Minister to the Chief Minister, was busy gathering votes for the trust vote in the Lok Sabha.

He asked the people not to forgive this government. “The Congress has ruled the country for over 50 years now; it is time for it to take rest. You should say this to the party in the next election.”

The BJP leader said the government “failed” to contain inflation by claiming that it had no control over international crude price. When NDA was in power it was able to control inflation despite a rise in crude prices, he said.

Mr. Advani claimed that the BJP had succeeded in evolving a bipolar party system, in which the NDA and the UPA were pitted against each other. “To break the monopoly of the Congress, it is essential that all opposition parties join hands,” he said.

BJP President Rajnath Singh said Haryana was chosen for the first NDA “Vijay Sankalp” rally as major historic battles had been fought in this land. Incidentally, on Saturday Haryana celebrated the 42nd anniversary of its formation.

“When the NDA returns to power anyone displaying Pakistani flag on Indian soil will have to face the bullets of the Army,” said Mr. Singh.

“The only thing that is available cheap during UPA rule is human life,” charged Mr. Singh.

Mr. Chautala termed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh “Mehnagai Mohan Singh” and said “the foreign educated trio of Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia were concerned only about the rise and fall of sensex and had nothing to do with the plight of farmers.”

Punjab Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Parkash Singh Badal said that after the INLD left the NDA his party found it difficult to make a choice between BJP and the INLD during elections. “Now that they have come together, we will be able to wipe out UPA.”

Janata Dal (U) President Sharad Yadav alleged that the country was passing through a very bad phase with innocents being killed all over and inflation being at its peak.

Mr. Yadav claimed that the Congress government in Haryana would soon turn the lush green fields into a concrete jungle by lavishly giving away the land to SEZ promoters. During the last Lok Sabha elections, the Congress won nine out of 10 seats in Haryana, while the BJP managed to bag one. — PTI

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