Author:
Publication: The Times of India
Date: April 5, 2001
Leaving no one in doubt how the
battle between the NDA and the Opposition parties will progress in the
days to come on the Tehelka tapes issue, Union Home Minister Advani and
former defence minister George Fernandes continued their offensive at a
public meeting here declaring that nothing could shake the government at
the Centre.
They made it clear that the Congress
and the Left campaign for the resignation of the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led
government was being sought to be removed on ``mere premises based on lies''.
Addressing the meeting, attended by nearly 20,000 people, Advani sought
to impress upon the people that the NDA government continued to be a ``government
with a difference.'' He repeatedly stressed on the sense of `accountability'
and `responsibility' that drives the NDA government.
``When we said we are ready for
a debate in Parliament on the Tehelka issue, the Congress did not agree.
It also did not agree for any kind of a probe the Opposition wanted into
the issue. Here is a government that for the first time in the history
of independent India wants to face the charges but the Opposition is shying
away,'' he said.
Advani ridiculed the repeated charges
from the Congress that the defence of the country had weakened in the wake
of the Tehelka expose. ``This was the party that criticised the NDA government
when it showed the world that India was a nuclear power after the Pokhran
blasts. In fact, it was a decision that showed the world that India has
nuclear weapons that it can defend itself with, especially when its two
neighbours, Pakistan and China possess such weapons,'' he said.
He said everyone named in the Tehelka
expose had resigned. ``Even when his name was mentioned nowhere, George
Fernandes resigned because he wanted to uphold the moral probity that everyone
in the NDA believes in. All the Congress wants is to come to power by any
means. The NDA government will be there as long as people support Vajpayee,''
he said.
Fernandes, taking off from where
Advani left, said all that has happened after the Tehelka issue was the
defence secrets of the country are now being forced into the open. ``Pakistan
is now laughing at us. It says we now know what you have, what you have
planned to buy,'' he said referring to the widespread discussions on various
defence deals.
Defence deals by their very nature
are highly confidential and any purchase is made depending on the needs
of the Army, Navy or the Air Force. These are now being forced into the
open, Fernandes said.
The former defence minister further
said he knew the day he ordered a review of all defence deals since 1989
that he would be attacked as his decision meant the cutting away of huge
illegal incomes of several middlemen and others. ``But we went ahead and
asked the Central Vigilance Commissioner and the Comptroller and Auditor
General of India to review the deals. This is because we wanted a system
of ensuring the very best for our armed forces and to keep away middlemen,''
he said.
Fernandes repeatedly stressed on
the severe damage to the morale of the defence forces after the Tehelka
issue came to the fore. ``It is not enough if the forces have the best
weapons. What is needed is the morale and confidence that the people are
with them. It is this morale and confidence that the Tehelka tapes and
the Congress are seeking to hit,'' he said.
Fernandes further said that the
Tehelka tapes were a bunch of lies and these lies were being used by the
Congress to grab power. ``The Congress has always used lies to grab power.
Now Sonia Gandhi is trying to do the same,'' he said.
The meeting, which began one hour
late, was also addressed by Union Rural Development Minister M.Venkaiah
Naidu, Union Minister of State for Urban Development Bandaru Dattatreya
and was attended by Samata Party president V.V. Krishna Rao, Union ministers
from the state and representatives of the Janata Dal (U), Lok Janashakti
and Dalit Sena parties.
