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BJP finds Congress manifesto hypocritical

"Tasteless, odourless, colourless." No, we are not referring to some element here. These attributes, along with "meaningless", best describe the Congress manifesto for the November 25 assembly election in Delhi, according to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

In a sharp reaction to the Congress manifesto released on Wednesday, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, chairman of the BJP's election campaign committee, said "the party expects to fool the people all the time".

The Congress has promised to punish those involved in the anti-Sikh riots in 1984, but the men who "dictated" the riots are masterminding its election campaign, he said. "The guilty men of 1984 are the electoral generals of 1998."

Ridiculing the attempt of the Congress to draw a comparison between the victims of Partition in 1948 and those of 1984, Malhotra said that in 1948, about 500,000 people were killed and 5,000,000 rendered homeless. "They died for the country, for religion." But in 1984, Sikhs were killed by Congress goons for no fault of theirs.

He said the Congress should instead have highlighted the achievements during its rule.

Malhotra pointed out that the Congress did not regularise a single unauthorised colony during the seven years it ruled the capital even though it had a majority in Parliament as well. "If they are saying they will do it now, how can they, since they don't have a Congress government at the Centre?"

Referring to the killing of Samata Party candidate Ved Singh, Delhi BJP chief Mange Ram Garg said the party condemns the incident and shares the grief of Singh's family. "We have even demanded a CBI inquiry and punishment to the guilty," he said.

He, however, parried questions on the statement of Union Minister Madan Lal Khurana that the incident was inevitable since criminal elements are being encouraged in Delhi. "We have not read Mr Khurana's statement" was his excuse.

UNI

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