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Congress is mother of communalism, terrorism: Venkaiah Naidu
Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad |
December 08, 2002 01:27 IST
Bharatiya Janata Party president M Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday dubbed the Congress "the mother of communalism and terrorism" in the country. Addressing a press conference in Hyderabad, he said the outcome of the Gujarat assembly election would decide "whether nationalists (read: the BJP) will get strengthened or bogus secularism will become stronger".
He expressed confidence that the BJP would sweep the Gujarat polls and secure a two-thirds majority.
He accused the Congress of playing its "pseudo-secular" card to garner votes in Gujarat, adding that the "Congress is nervous because it is on a weak wicket there".
"The BJP has a strong, able, stable and determined leader [Narendra Modi] while their leader [Shankersinh Vaghela] is not original. Congress has taken refuge in a former BJP man who was expelled from the party," he said.
It was strange, he said, that Congress president Sonia Gandhi had accused the BJP of creating a fear psychosis in Gujarat.
Recalling her statement that security and the fight against terrorism cannot be issues in state elections, he said law and order is a state subject.
He said Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's coalition government in Jammu & Kashmir, in which the Congress is a partner, is releasing terrorists and taking controversial decisions to disband the Special Operations Group and not implement the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
"What is your approach to the whole issue of terrorism? Do you want to release terrorists or kill them as we did in the Akshardam temple?" he asked her.
Asked whether the BJP's victory in Gujarat would mean extending the 'Modi approach' to other parts of the country, he quipped, "Yes, this will mean a vote for the firm approach against divisive forces in the country, the approach of Sardar Patel and Narendra Modi."
He criticised the Congress for observing the 10th anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid and said it was an attempt to remind Muslims of an issue that they are not worried about.
He said the Congress has no solution for the Ayodhya dispute, but is raking it up all the same while accusing the BJP of using the Godhra carnage for political purposes.
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