The BJP’s PM-in-waiting Lal Krishna Advani on Friday formally kicked off the party’s campaign for the Lok Sabha election from Kanpur with a scathing attack on the Congress.
LUCKNOW: The BJP’s PM-in-waiting Lal Krishna Advani on Friday formally kicked off the party’s campaign for the Lok Sabha election from Kanpur with a scathing attack on the Congress.
He rapped the UPA government on the spiralling prices, internal security and the nuclear deal. Advani also did not forget to re-assert the BJP’s commitment to building a “bhavya Ram mandir” (grand Ram temple) in Ayodhya.
“This government may be headed by a doctor (Dr Manmohan Singh), but it is perennially in the ICU,” Advani said arousing a round of cheers and applause from the crowds at Kanpur’s historical Phoolbagh Ground. The gathering wore thin as heavy showers lashed the city, and Advani had to deliver his address in the pouring rain.
“Since 2006, the Congress and the Left parties have been quarrelling over the nuclear deal...now, the Congress is looking for support from the Samajwadi Party (SP) to save its government... no one knows when the Left might just pull out,” he said.
“Rising prices have spoilt the budget of the common man, farmers are committing suicides, and terrorist attacks have become routine. But the Congress and the Left are too busy fighting over the nuclear deal. The UPA government has lost its moral authority to rule the country,” Advani asserted gravely. “Any day, you might read in the papers saying that the Left has withdrawn support to the UPA regime. That day, we will ask the UPA to prove its majority in Parliament,” he quipped.
Advani used the opportunity to assert himself as the BJP’s ‘Hindutva’ face, saying: “The people of India will not be satisfied till the time a grand Ram temple is built in Ayodhya.” The cheering which followed lasted several minutes bringing a wide grin to Advani’s face.
Apart from the rain, the only thing which would have perhaps bothered Advani was the absence of senior party leaders from the stage. BJP president Rajnath Singh, who was supposed to accompany him, apparently had other plans, as did former UP CM Kalyan Singh and Arun Jaitley, BJP general secretary in charge of UP.
But that did not affect Advani’s caustic outburst against his prime target, the Congress. “The Congress chief also has the Gandhi surname. But this has nothing to do with Mahatma Gandhi,” he remarked. He even made a parody of the party’s election slogan “Congress ka haath, aam aadmi ke saath,” saying it should actually be: “Congress ka haath, aam aadmi ke saath vishwas-ghaat.”
And he added a word of caution: “This is not the pre-1947 Congress which fought for India’s freedom. This is not the Congress of Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru and Patel. This is a different party altogether. So, don’t be carried away.”
g_deepak@dnaindia.net
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