*BJP condemns questions on Kashmir status
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Jan 18: BJP president Rajnath Singh said today that Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that granted special status to the State has only caused immense losses to Jammu and Kashmir and added that his party would welcome if any political party or organisation tell them the advantages of this Article.
Addressing the BJP’s three-days national executive, which started yesterday, in New Delhi, Mr Singh carried forward the debate set off by BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendera Modi on Article 370 saying the BJP was ready to discuss advantages and disadvantages of the Article.
“If Article 370 has delivered any goods to Jammu and Kashmir, we are ready to discuss them. Let the political parties or any other organisations, which have been supporting the Article, come forward and tell us the advantages Article 370 has given to J&K. In our view, it has only prevented Jammu and Kashmir from joining national mainstream. The Article has caused only losses to J&K and was a disadvantage for the State,” Rajnath said in his address to the national executive.
“On Article 370, there is no shift in the BJP’s stand. But if Jammu and Kashmir is not able to integrate with the national mainstream, if it is a conspiracy to stop J&K from joining Indian mainstream, then BJP will not accept the Article in any way.
“As per Constitution, the debate will continue whether the Article 370 should end or continue,” he said. However, he made it clear that if J&K develops because of Article 370, the BJP has no objection in keeping it. He added that there had been enough evidence to suggest that the J&K has only suffered because of Article 370.
Rajnath made it clear that there was no change in the BJP’s stance on Jammu and Kashmir.
Mr Singh said: “owing to the wrong policies of the Congress Government, the issue of Jammu and Kashmir has been embroiled in problems since our independence. Due to weak policies and Article 370, Congress has kept Jammu and Kashmir away from the mainstream of development in the country.”
Maintaining that BJP considered Jammu and Kashmir as an integral part of India, Rajnath said: “we are against giving leverage to any anti-national elements. We are resolute in getting development to the poor population of Kashmir, which they lack even after 67 years of independence. We strongly condemn the questions being raised by Congress and its allies regarding the status of Kashmir in India. Besides being a subject of integrity of India, Kashmir strikes an emotional chord for the party as our founder Dr Shyama Prasad Mookherjee became a martyr for Kashmir cause”.
A demand for debate on Article 370 of the Constitution of India was first made by BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi while addressing the biggest ever political rally in Jammu on December 1. His demand had, in fact, set off a massive debate with various political parties support for and against the Article.
Targeting UPA Government headed by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh for its failure on diplomatic front including Pakistan and China, Rajnath Singh said: “the Centre has no stand on Pakistan. On one hand, the Prime Minister says that there would be no talks with Pakistan (in view of the neighbouring country’s support to terrorism) while on the other they have resumed talks with Pakistan”.
It may be mentioned here that the Commerce Ministers of India and Pakistan have held a dialogue on wide ranging issues in New Delhi.
Pointing out that China also has territorial ambitions against India especially on Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh, Rajnath charged the UPA Government with `sitting silently’ and taking no steps to check Chinese incursions in Ladakh.
He said during Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime, China had repeatedly made incursions in Sikkim.
“However, Mr Vajpayee displayed the diplomatic skills and handed the issue with such a diplomatic strategy that China completely gave up its claim on Sikkim,” the BJP chief said.
As reported exclusively today, the BJP has yesterday moved a political resolution in its national executive in which the party had come down heavily on UPA for its soft policies towards China and Pakistan and failure to check terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir as well as other parts of the country. BJP Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha Ravi Shankar Prasad had moved the resolution while BJP national executive member and senior party leader from Jammu and Kashmir Dr Jitendera Singh had moved amendments to it.
The resolution would be passed tomorrow on last day of the national executive. Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj would make a detailed speech on the resolution. BJP Prime Ministerial candidate would also address the national executive tomorrow.
PTI adds from New Delhi:-
Stung by attack on Narendra Modi, BJP today hit back, saying the “helpless” Congress was using false propaganda to discredit its Prime Ministerial candidate even as it engages in Muslim appeasement for votes.
BJP President Rajnath Singh slammed the Congress, a day after Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi attacked Modi over his kind of politics.
He lambasted the Congress for attacking Modi for unrelenting court cases and “lowly” remarks.
“Congress is getting defeated in legal battles as well… Feeling helpless against the BJP and its PM candidate, Congress has resorted to propaganda and legal tangles… Congress is always trying to attack Modi using different tactics,” Singh said.
Claiming that Congress has launched a tirade against Modi on basis of “lies and misinformation”, the BJP chief referred to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s recent remarks that Modi becoming PM would be “disastrous” for the country.
These remarks were “irresponsible and highly condemnable.. His comments were neither based on facts nor dignified for a person who holds a constitutional post,” he said.
Accusing Congress of indulging in false propaganda and vote bank politics, BJP said it has sought to discredit Modi through all means.
Turning to 2002 Gujarat riots, Singh termed these as “painful” and said the Modi Government had taken stern and swift action against the rioters.
He said the SIT has given a clean chit to Modi in its report submitted to Supreme Court in 2011 itself and a few days back a court in Ahmedabad has dismissed all allegations against him, the BJP chief said.
Condemning Sonia Gandhi’s statement that BJP is a communal party, Rajnath Singh said it is the ruling party which is communal.
“I want to ask Sonia Gandhi as to which Government’s Prime Minister had said that Muslims have the first right on the resources of the country. It was Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. It is Congress which has tried to divide the country. It is Congress which is communal,” the BJP chief said.
Pointing fingers at Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, he said the Hindu terror remarks were made by the Congress-led UPA government.
“Also, for the first time, a headcount in the defence forces was done on the basis of religion in this Government,” Singh said
Rajnath Singh claimed that Gujarat has become a model state under Modi’s leadership, despite which the Centre has continued its “witch-hunt” against him for the past 11 years.
“If a court absolves him (Modi) in one case then the Government keeps some other conspiracy ready for him,” he said.
The BJP President also targeted Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar for his comments that Modi will never become the Prime Minister in the 21st Century but can sell tea. “This shows a feudal mindset,” he said.
He used Modi’s tea vendor background to attack Congress over “dynastic” politics.
“There is internal democracy only in the BJP where a tea-seller can become the PM candidate while one engaged in farming can become the party president (referring to himself),” Rajnath Singh said.
You cannot even imagine this in the Congress where the president and other top posts can be held only by those born in a particular family,” Singh said.
Meanwhile, BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi today asked the party rank and file to concentrate on running a grounded election campaign focussing on booths and households as he said polls are not won through rallies and TV debates.
Addressing the BJP National Council here, Modi gave simple, common sensical suggestions to the party cadre ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Striking a note of sarcasm, the Gujarat Chief Minister said “we cannot beat Congress in their way of running a campaign. We do not have the ability to spend such money, misuse state machinery or resort to any dirty tricks. The power we have is the power of organisation.”
He asked party workers to touch an emotional cord with people when they go on a door-to-door campaign. “When you go to collect ‘one note’ for the party to 10 crore families, you should ask them what they want from their government, ask them don’t you want change. Talk to them about issues they are emotional about,” he said.
Modi, a former General Secretary (Organisation) of BJP, said he is speaking as a party organisation man and not as the PM candidate of the party.
“The more grounded our campaign is, the greater will be its benefit. A poll victory takes birth in a polling booth and not in public rallies, TV debates, posters or through magazines… Losing in a polling booth does not win you elections,” Modi said.
He told party workers that in each booth, which has around 700 votes, they should try to ensure that 350 votes are cast for BJP. “This means you have to reach out to 100 families per booth,” he said.
Some of the suggestions which struck an instant cord with the cadre was to get BJP symbol lotus applied in henna on the palms of 10 crore women across the country by February end, show BJP videos to groups of 25-30 women in different places every day, and touching an emotional cord with people.
“Just as a wind blowing with a velocity of 200 Km per hour cannot fill a bicycle tube, we cannot win unless the wave in our favour is concentrated at the booth level,” Modi said.
BJP’s PM candidate said any party which gets 20 crore votes will form the next government.
“Since our target is to reach out to 10 crore families in our one-note, one-vote programme, it would mean 20 crore individuals would be covered,” Modi said, adding most people who pay for BJP funds are likely to also vote for the party.
He said even the Run-for-Unity race had drawn lakhs of people to take part.
Modi, known for his pragmatic approach, emphasised that the party cadre should not get complacent about victory even as he claimed the wave seen in BJP’s favour in 2014 is “unprecedented”.
He said there is a lot of enthusiasm among the people about BJP and party should welcome all sections- including the young, college students and professionals- to the party-fold.
Modi made the point that housewives “watch TV serials and don’t see news channels” and this calls for a different strategy to tap them. A door-to-door approach and holding public viewing sessions of BJP promos for groups of women would help. He set a target of 1,000 such shows for groups of 30 women for each session.
Blaming UPA for the “poor” state of the country’s economy, BJP today said it was not the global meltdown but absence of leadership, dual power centres and inherent corruption which led to the flight of investment and promised rationalisation of the tax regime.
In the Economic Resolution unanimously passed at its National Council meeting, the BJP said the last decade has been a “wasted opportunity” as government failed to control inflation and corruption, which has become the “hallmark” of this government, and led to the present State of economy.
“The economic slump under the UPA was less about global meltdown and more about complete absence of leadership, dual power centers, bankruptcy of ideas, lack of vision, disastrous policies and inherent corruption.
“It was a wasted decade in which the country saw decline of all the sectors, be it education, health, economy, politics or governance. Overall it proved a regime of rapid moral degradation,” Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said.
Giving a ray of hope to the country and the Indian entrepreneurs, who he said have a lot of potential, the BJP promised that it will revive the state of economy and investment, but said, “it will be quite a big challenge.”
On the proposed tax reforms, which the BJP said could not materialise due to the “inept” handling of UPA and “failure” to address concerns of states, it said, “BJP is committed to the rationalisation and simplification of the tax regime”. It, however, did not elaborate on the issue.
Former BJP President Nitin Gadkari said, the party would bring education, judicial, administrative and tax reforms.
“We want to bring a rational tax system, which is free from corruption, that ends licence raj and permits, stops blackmoney and converts it into white economy,” Gadkari said.
Jaitley said after 10 years when the economy should be running and used to be showcased across the world as a perfect destination for investment, today the whole world is saying one should not invest in India.
Hitting out at the Congress on the issue of corruption, which he said, touched an all-time high, the BJP leader highlighted the 2G Spectrum and coal block allocations, Commonwealth Games scam and the VVIP chopper scam which “brought down” the image of the country the world over leading to decline on investment and flight of capital.
He said bad governance, policy paralysis and corruption have dealt a body blow to the investor confidence both in the country and abroad, and some serious efforts will have to be taken to to help restore it.
He said the UPA inherited a robust economy with 8.4 per cent growth in May 2004 but had left it shattered with growth rate of a meager less than 5 per cent and high inflation.
“The country can no longer afford any further political experimentation at the cost of economic mismanagement that the country has enormously suffered under the Congress led UPA regime.”
Supporting the economic resolution, senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi said the economic health of the country and health of the government and the people had deteriorated during UPA, even as there has been reduction in moral and ethical values.
Referring to the cash-for-vote scam, he said, “This government was formed on corrupt policies, it ran on corruption and its policies were not in the interest of the common man… The wrong and bad policies of this government is responsible for the current economic situation due to the shameful loot of money and natural resources of the country.”
Joshi also expressed concern over the increasing loan burden on the country and feared losing India’s economic sovereignty.
“If there is no economic sovereignty, then India will also lose its political sovereignty,” he claimed.
Jaitley said the first right of natural resources cannot be on the basis of religion and must belong to the poor. He said India needed growth and all poverty alleviation schemes must be linked to asset creation.
Top priority will have to be given to housing, water, power and quality of life and job creation is the key, he said.
“Infrastructure such as highways, transportation, ports, townships have to be expedited. Power production has to pick up. India needs manufacturing sector reforms. Tourism potential of the country must be realised. Inter-linking of rivers must be attempted wherever possible.
“Rationalisation of taxes and increased expenditure on education and health care are key. The Minimum Income Support to the farming community has to be assured,” the BJP leader said.
Attacking Congress for “running away” from declaring its Prime Ministerial candidate, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today said the ruling party was hiding behind excuses as it cannot match the BJP or Narendra Modi.
Speaking at the National Council meeting here today, Chouhan said the Congress was making excuses by saying that it has no tradition of declaring a Prime Ministerial candidate ahead of polls as it was aware of its defeat.
“There is no competition between BJP and other parties. They are not declaring their prime ministerial candidate and are making excuses that it is not in their tradition to do so. They know they are going to be defeated,” he said.
Challenging the Congress to declare a PM candidate and come out in the open Chouhan, who has made a hat-trick in Madhya Pradesh, said “Declare your prime ministerial candidate and come in the field. Come out in the open and take the challenge.”
The MP chief minister also took a jibe at Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar over his tea-stall remarks against Narendra Modi, saying “such small-time leaders are no match for Modi”.
Highlighting the policies of his government, he said it is due to the high growth rate of BJP-ruled states which were reporting over 10 per cent growth that the country was growing at around 5 per cent.
“UPA’s achievement is because of the BJP states.”
He said the state was maintaining a growth rate of 10 per cent in the last eight years and development in agriculture and power sector was phenomenal.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, who has also made a hat-trick in the state, said some of the schemes of his government were better than that adopted by the Centre and said Food Security scheme was one of them.
“In Chhattisgarh, there is 90 per cent coverage of people under the Food Security Scheme. Over 65 lakh people are getting 35 kg rice at Rs one a kg,” he said.
Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar also highlighted the social schemes launched by his government, saying that one scheme was providing Rs 1,000 per month to the married women in the state to counter the effects of inflation.
He also claimed that 30 per cent of Goa’s population was benefiting from this.
Parrikar added that a sum of Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,500 was also being provided to the retired and old people under a separate scheme.
Earlier BJP president Rajnath Singh felicitated the three Chief Ministers present and lauded all of them for their work in their states.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje was not present due to her ill health.
Meanwhile, BJP today hit back at Rahul Gandhi for his “comb” remark by raking up the corruption issue and quipping that there is a “political force” which seeks commission even on selling a comb.
“Congress Vice President said yesterday that there is one party which can sell combs to people without hair and also give them a haircut. There is a third party which seeks commission whether it is selling combs or giving haircut,” BJP leader Arun Jaitley said.
Addressing the party’s National Council here, he said that it was because of this “political force” and corruption by them which is responsible for the bad state of economy.
Gandhi had yesterday suggested that BJP was making false promises to people which was akin to selling combs to the bald.
“Opposition parties can say anything. Their marketing is very good. They have used everything, name, shine and song. They are the ones who will sell combs to the bald.
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