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Advani denies Pak origin (Go To Top)

          Jaipur: Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani today denied he was a Pakistani due to his birth in Karachi. Talking to newspersons on the 22nd day of his Bharat Uday Yatra, Advani said: "I was born in Karachi which was part of India and lived in that city for 20 years as long as it was part of India. I came away when it became part of Pakistan." Lakhs of Hindus and Sikhs had crossed over to India after partition, he said, adding that the Constitution too had recognised that all those who were born before partition and adopted the Indian nationality were citizens of the country. Advani claimed the Congress itself was divided on the foreign origin issue.

BJP regrets Gujarat riots (Go To Top)

          Jaipur: Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani on Saturday said relations between Hindus and Muslims were at their best during his government's regime. Regretting the 2002 riots in Gujarat, one of the worst ever in the nation, Advani said the incident was avoidable. At least 1000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in reprisal riots after a suspected Muslim mob torched a train burning alive 59 Hindus. Advani's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which also ruled Gujarat, was blamed for not doing enough to stop the spree of killings. "Yes there should not have been clashes in Gujarat. But on the whole, except for the clashes in Gujarat, in the last six years, relations between Hindus and Muslims have been very good," Advani told a news conference in Jaipur where he stopped during the second leg of his nation-wide chariot ride.

Vajpayee to launch north-east campaign on April 6 (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will flag off his Bharatiya Janata Party's campaign in the north-east on April 6. Vajpayee will address a rally in Guwahati, Assam's principal city, on the occasion of the BJP's Raising Day. Apart from Vajpayee, Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani, BJP president M. Venkaiah Naidu, Union Ministers Sushma Swaraj, CP Thakur, Rajnath Singh, Shatrughna Sinha and Vinod Khanna, besides Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharati would campaign in the state.

          The BJP hopes to use the iconic status of singer-composer Bhupen Hazarika to garner votes. Once polling in his Guwahati constituency is over on April 20, Hazarika will visit upper Assam for extensive campaigning for the April 26 polls. He will then visit Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya where he is equally popular. Hazarika, however, has made it clear that he would not go out of the north-east for campaign.

Patna will give BJP a tough fight (Go To Top)

          Patna: It will a tough fight for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Patna, and one of the most important constituencies, as its stalwart CP Thakur takes on a popular regional leader in the national elections. A predominantly urban area, Patna is as caste-ridden as any other region in the highly backward state, now notorious as India's "wild west"-a byword for despair. The state's most dominant backward Yadavs, the upper class Kayasthas, and the Kahars, also backward, dominate the constituency, while the Dalits or lower-castes and Kurmis form a sizable chunk.

          Thakur, an upper caste, who represented the constituency last time, will take on Ram Kripal Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). Yadav stands to gain from the apathy amongst the upper caste voters, who might not vote against the BJP, but as analysts say, are unethusiastic and could impact voter turnout in their strongholds. Yadav is also facing the ire of the lower-castes, who say the Yadavs are too domineering and sideline them. X

          Yadav is targetting the BJP-led Centrel government for what he terms as its anti-poor policies. "The Central government had promised that it will provide an atmosphere free of fear, hunger and corruption. It has failed to do so far," Yadav said. However, Thakur, who takes credit for improving health facilities in the region and a new agro research centre, blamed the provincial government for not proivding enough funds. "A comprehensive project is required for the development, Patna should be included in an underdeveloped Capital project. A special package is needed to tide over the road, drainage and water problems," he said.

          And even as the electoral battle hots up the voters still see development as empty poll promises. "Roads, water and electricity...it never comes despite promises. We did not even get fertiliser from the government," Bijendra Singh, a resident said. Patna's 1.5 million electorate are to cast their votes on April 20. Bihar and its almost 85 million people - roughly the population of Germany, embody the problems that face the world's largest democracy and threaten its emergence as an economic superpower to rival China. Despite a surplus of farm produce, its feudal land system and the lack of industry and jobs keep 60 percent of Biharis in poverty. The average real income here is Rs. 3,650 a year, compared with Rs. 11,625 nationally. And in addition to its poverty, Bihar is racked by caste wars that have killed 1,000 in central Bihar in the past 30 years, one of India's worst violent crime rates and a simmering revolt by leftist rebels.

Marxists irked over Trinamul honeymoon with RSS (Go To Top)
by Gautam Ghosh

          Kolkata: The West Bengal CPI(M) has challenged Trinamul Congress chairperson and Union coal and mines minister Mamata Banerjee's secular credentials in view of her party's "growing friendly ties with the Rashtriya Sayamsevak Sangh(RSS)," a major partner of the "communal Sangh Parivar." The Marxists intend to politically exploit state BJP president Tathagata Roy's recent admission that "RSS members in West Bengal have been working to ensure the victory of Trinamul Congress candidates in the coming Lok Sabha polls." The CPI(M), which holds Ms Banerjee primarily responsible for the BJP's growth in its stronghold, feels she has been secretly wooing the Sangh Parivar outfit ever since her party formally came into being. The Marxists intend to launch a forceful campaign against the Trinamul Congress leader over the issue, particularly among the minority community. The party feels this kind of campaign will rob the Trinamul Congress of whatever support it still enjoys among the Muslims in the coming elections.

          According to informed sources, the CPI(M) is worried over the growing RSS activities in the state despite its long stint in power. The Sangh Parivar outfit, which generally does not openly undertake any kind of political or poll campaign, has been all praise for Ms Banerjee for her persistent anti-CPI(M) stand. The Marxists have pointed out how the Trinamul Congress leader shared a platform with the RSS on September 15 last year in connection with the release of a book, "Communist Terrorism," authored by Tarun Vijay, an RSS theoretician. Ms Banerjee had then lauded the "patriotic spirit" of the RSS and described it as "a natural ally in our common fight against the CPI(M). Some Sangh Parivar leaders, present at the function, had even described the Trinamul Congress chairperson as "Goddess Durga" for her "political courage and zeal to face the communists' challenge."

          The CPI(M) feels Ms Banerjee's "soft corner for the communal BJP" was also apparent from her "volte face" on the role of the Narendra Modi government in the aftermath of the Gujarat riots. The Trinamul Congress leader, who had initially demanded Modi's removal as the Gujarat chief minister for his failure to contain communal violence, did not hesitate to vote in favour of the NDA government against an opposition-sponsored resolution in the Lok Sabha condemning Modi. She had even congratulated Modi after the BJP won the subsequent Assembly polls in Gujarat under his leadership.

          While the CPI(M) feels Ms Banerjee's "growing intimacy with the BJP and the RSS is an outward manifestation of her craving for a Cabinet berth," Trinamul Congress has dismissed the allegation as a "clear evidence of the Marxists' political bankruptcy." Leader of the opposition in the Assembly and Trinamul Congress spokesperson Pankaj Banerjee insisted that the party had never sought the RSS help in the elections. "We have a large number of dedicated party members who are working round-the-clock to ensure our candidates' victory in the coming polls. The BJP is our ally and it is naturally that its workers will be campaigning for our nominees and vice-versa," he observed.

          Banerjee feels the CPI(M) has no right to question the Trinamul Congress' secular credentials. "The party has been campaigning on communal lines in areas dominated by the minority community. The Left Front government has done precious little during the past two and a half decades to improve their lot. As far as our party is concerned, we have never tried to discriminate between communities. Our party constitution, which upholds secularism as part of the nation's life, is the clearest evidence of our credentials," he observed. Aware of the CPI(M)'s game-plan to split anti-left votes in the coming elections, Ms Banerjee has been making deliberate attempts to improve her party's relationship with rival factions in the BJP led by Tathagata Roy, state BJP chief, and Tapan Sikdar, union minister of state for small-scale industries. This is apparent from the Trinamul Congress leader's recent move to patch up with Sikdar who never spared her from criticism on earlier occasions. Ms Banerjee, who accompanied Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Santiniketan yesterday along with Roy and Sikdar, feels the CPI(M)'s attempts to blow up her party's "so- called friendly ties with the RSS" will hardly yield any political dividend. "The CPI(M)'s terror and misrule and not communalism will be the main issue in the coming elections," she observed.