HVK Archives: BJP campaign to project Government's achievements
BJP campaign to project Government's achievements - The Observer
Observer Political Bureau
()
February 10, 1999
Title: BJP campaign to project Government's achievements
Author: Observer Political Bureau
Publication: The Observer
Date: February 10, 1999
Asserting that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Government's record was
hundred times better than any Government in the past, the BJP said that
there was a need to project its achievements properly among certain
sections of the people.
To bridge this perceived gap between the party's performance and its
perception and to expose the double-standards of the Left and the
Congress, the BJP is launching a nation-wide campaign from February 11.
The campaign will be launched by party President Kushabhau Thakre from
Mughalserai, and Union Home Minister L K Advani will inaugurate the
campaign in Delhi. All senior leaders and party cadres will take part
in the programme.
Party spokesperson Venkaiah Naidu said that "even though the BJP-led
Government faced the constraints of a thin majority, the adverse legacy
of the past Congress and UF governments in the form of a bad economic
situation, insurgency, extremism and social tensions, this Government
had done hundred times more than any Government in the past."
Listing the achievements of the Government, Mr Naidu said: Inflation is
at an all-time low, agricultural production is more than satisfactory,
there is no BoP problem, near normalcy in insurgency-ridden Kashmir, ISI
contained, the nuclear tests, the resolution of the Cauvery issue,
pathbreaking 60 per cent allocation to the rural sector, reforms in the
financial sector, like tax collection and structure, insurance for
agricultural labourers and crop insurance.
On the legislative front, the BJP said that the introduction of the
Women's Reservation Bill, Lok Pal Bill, bill for creation of new states
and the repealing of the Urban Land Ceiling Act, were notable
achievements.
On the political front, Mr Naidu said that "in no other period that the
country was as free of communal riots as the period of the BJP-led
Government."
Taking a pot-shot at the proposed convention of the Third Front, Mr
Naidu said that "the four Cs had got together. The corrupt, the
communal, the casteist and the Communist."
He said that in Bihar while the State units of the Congress and the Left
had passed several resolutions condemning and opposing the RJD
Government, "now they are an getting together with the single-point
agenda of opposing the BJP."
The Congress and the Left and their shifting stands on various issues to
suit their political situation clearly expose their double standards, Mr
Naidu said, releasing a pamphlet set for the nation-wide campaign.
To cite a few exemplifying the "double speak" of the Congress and the
Left, which are now getting together on their common single point
programme of dislodging the BJP Government at the Centre, the pamphlet
stated that the Congress promised to raise the retirement age of
Government employees, but protested against the same when the BJP
Government raised the retirement age.
On reservation of women, the Congress backtracked inside Parliament
despite making clear-cut assertations that it will support the Women's
Reservation Bill. Even on the deportation of Bangladeshis, the Left and
the Congress raised a hue and cry, but forgot that the Maharashtra
Government under the Congress with a Congress Government at the Centre
had also deported illegal Bangladeshi migrants belonging to Bengali
speaking minorities, it said.
The Congress criticised the urea hike by the Government, but it forgot
that it had also raised the urea prices by 30 per cent when in power.
On Pokhran tests, the Congress and the Left unleashed a nefarious
campaign against it, but quietened after public support for the test
overwhelmed them.
The Congress and the Left raised a big hue and cry over Saraswati
Vandana episode, but even under the UF regime, Saraswati Vandana was
rendered at official function. The Congress hobnobbed with communal
parties like the Muslim League in Kerala, and Communists followed suit
later.
"Is it not a fact that Rajiv Gandhi had started his election campaign
with the promise of a Ram Rajya? But when the BJP speaks about Ram
Rajya it become communal," the pamphlet stated adding that "it is the
same Congress which is responsible for the massacre of 3,500 innocent
Sikhs in Delhi in 1984.
"The Congress and the Left condemn the jungle raj in Bihar, but condone
it." The Congress and the Communists criticised each other, but are now
joining together in an "unholy alliance" the pamphlet stated.
In Karnataka and Orissa, the two political formations were silent over
the killings, but made a big hue and cry over attacks against
Christians. Even on the cricket fields, the double standards of the
Congress were exposed. In 1991, when the Congress was in power in
Maharashtra and at the Centre, the Pakistani cricket tour had to be
called off because of Shiv Sena protest.
"They could not do anything." But, the Maharashtra Government this time
had arrested Shiv Sainiks who dug up the pitch in Kotla stadium and also
those who indulged in vandalism at BCCI headquarters in Mumbai.
"Let the people decide who has surrendered," the pamphlet stated.
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