BJP's Rajnath Singh accuses Congress of dividing people 'along religious lines' as supporters meet for National Council
Tearing into the top Congress leadership, including UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Rajnath Singh on Saturday accused the Congress of "practising politics by dividing people along religious lines".
Speaking at the National Council meet of BJP workers at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi, Singh said, "I want to remind Sonia Gandhi that it was Manmohan Singh who had said that Muslims have the first right on India's resources.
If there is any party which takes decisions based on religious considerations, it is Congress. If there is any communal party, it is Congress."
BJP PM candidate Narendra Modi hoists the party flag as president Rajnath Singh, senior leaders LK Advani and Sushma Swaraj look on during the National Council meet in Delhi on Saturday
Singh had taken a straight aim at Gandhi who, in her Friday speech during the All India Congress Committee meet, had called the BJP ideology "divisive and communal".
He also criticised the PM and said, "He (Manmohan Singh) remarked that it would be disastrous if Modi became the PM. And it was his tenure which had been a disaster while Gujarat had become a model state under Modi.''
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'The Congress has launched a campaign against Shri Narendra Modi based on lies and misinformation,' said Rajnath Singh
Encouraging party workers to get in tune with the political climate and the urgency to throw the UPA out of power, Rajnath said: "We met in the same city of Delhi almost 10 months ago when the last national council meeting was held. Much water has flown down the Ganges since then. The restlessness for change is clearly visible in these currents."
He said the country is looking for change as indicated in the recently-held assembly elections in four states.
The BJP chief added, "Lok Sabha elections are round the corner. This election, unlike earlier elections, is going to be a decisive one impacting the nation's future. We know that the Congressled government in the last 10 years' rule has frittered away all the gains of the BJP led government under the able and honest leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee."
Singh said the Congress government has put the entire process of progress in reverse gear.
"The companies which were eager to come and invest in India are now rushing towards the exit.
Therefore, the next election would decide whether that lost trust of the world would be regained. I am confident that India would regain its glory and credibility. The Indian success story is not over. It is waiting for the BJP to come back to power," he told the gathering. He also took a dig at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for "trying to appropriate credit for the passage of Lokpal Bill".
The legislation owed its existence to the efforts of social activist Anna Hazare and pressure by BJP leaders, he said.
Slamming the UPA's governance, Singh said, "The Congress would want a weak government at the Centre as a strong government under Modi could endanger its future.
The governments provided by Narendra Modi in Gujarat, Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Madhya Pradesh and Raman Singh in Chhattisgarh have put a question mark over the Congress' future in these states.
BJP supporters during the party's National Council meet
The Congress fears that a strong government under Modi could do the same at the national level."
The BJP president also attacked Congress MP Mani Shankar Aiyar for his remarks on Narendra Modi, saying it reflected the feudal mindset governing Congress.
"In Congress, if you are not born in a certain family, you have no future," Singh said.
Jaitley says UPA's corruption led to economic downturn
By Mail Today Reporter
IT was not global meltdown but dual power centres, corruption and absence of leadership which had led to the flight of investment from India, senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said at the party's National Council meet on Saturday.
"The economic slump under the UPA was less about global meltdown and more about complete 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," Jaitley highlighted after the meeting.
Jaitley also mentioned that Indian entrepreneurs had a lot of potential and that his party would encourage them along with reviving the state of economy. "The whole world is not investing in India; rather the country's businessmen are investing outside.
There is a reverse flight of investment," he said.
Taking a jibe at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for his 'Opposition selling-comb-tobald' comment, Jaitley said there is a third political force which seeks commission even in the selling of such a comb.
Hitting out at the Congress on corruption which, he said, touched an all-time high, the BJP leader highlighted the 2G spectrum allocation, coal block allocation, Commonwealth Games and VVIP chopper scams which "brought down the image of the country, leading to decline on investment and flight of capital."
He added that the UPA inherited a robust economy with 8.4 per cent growth in May 2004 but had left it shattered with growth rate of less than 5 per cent and high inflation.
'CONGRESS DERAILED J&K GROWTH USING ARTICLE 370'
By Mail Today Reporter
Endorsing the point what Narendra Modi made in his speech at the Jammu rally last month, BJP president Rajnath Singh slammed the Congress for "using Article 370 to derail Kashmir's development."
Speaking at the National Council meet of BJP, he 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 its weak policies and Article 370, the Congress has kept the state away from the mainstream development." He added if the Article 370 was a conspiracy to stop the state from joining the mainstream, then his party would not accept it under any circumstances.
Modi had said at the rally that there should be at least a debate on whether or not Article 370 has benefitted the state. "As per the Constitution, the debate will continue whether the Article 370 should end or continue," the Gujarat chief minister had said.
Backing Modi, Singh said, "The BJP considers J&K as an integral part of India. We are against giving leverage to any antinational elements. We are resolute in providing development to the poor population of Kashmir, which they lack even after 67 years of independence. We strongly condemn the questions 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 Mookerjee became a martyr for Kashmir cause."
