NEW DELHI, February 19: BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Atal Bihari Vajpayee has come down heavily on Sonia Gandhi for saying that that the country would disintegrate if the Hindutva party was voted to power."False claims, malicious allegations and little knowledge do not contribute to electoral success," the veteran BJP little leader said in a statement on Wednesday. "Sonia Gandhi's statement would have been laughable, but for the fact that it shows how ignorant she is about the strength and resilience of the nation."
"The greatest injury that was inflicted on this country was its partition," Vajpayee asserted, "The Congress was as much to blame for the division of our motherland as the Muslim League and the British. Even today, the Congress continues to have the Muslim League as its ally. But India has survived the partition, not because of, but despite, the Congress."
The veteran BJP leader also lashed out heavily on the Congress for perpetrating a dynastic rule. "Democracy does not need a dynastyto survive. India is much larger than a family. The aspirations of 930 million people are not the same as the desire of descendants of any lineage."
"Spineless Congressmen no doubt have great expectations from, and faith in, the dynasty. But the people neither have faith in the Congress and its leaders nor do they expect anything from a party that has ruled for 45 of the last 50 years and is directly responsible for the mess in which India finds herself today," he added.
Vajpayee also ridiculed Sonia for invoking the issues of swadeshi and Uttarakhand in her speeches. "The Congress Government at the Centre did not lift a finger to come to the aid of the Uttarakhandis when then Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav unleashed a state of repression on them. The BJP passed a resolution in 1991 for a separate state of Uttarakhand. Yet the Congress today pretends to be a champion of Uttarakhandis," he said.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
