Press Briefing Thursday, 16 Apr 2009

Dr. Abhishek Singhvi addressed the media today.

Dr. Singhvi said that he has some questions for Shri Advani and his claims of ‘Majbooti’. Some of the issues are similar but they are totally on different angle and different passage.

Dr. Singhvi said that the following are the set of questions for Shri Advani and BJP party’s manifesto of omissions.

Questions for Mr. Advani and his claims of “Majbooti”
1. Why is Shri Advani trying to put the blame regarding Kandahar on Mr. Vajpayee and on the NDA and why is he trying to distance himself from that decision?

2. Is it not true that Shri Advani in both his book and in a “Walk the Talk” interview with Shekhar Gupta of Indian Express confirmed that he was not consulted and not involved in the decision making regarding Kandahar?

3. Is it not equally true that no less than the then Defence Minister, Mr. George Fernandez, in an interview to Mr. Karan Thapar on 30.03.2008 after Mr. Advani’s book release, categorically confirmed that Mr. Advani was present at the meeting which took the Kandahar decision?

4. Is the sign of strong leader—a Majboot Neta—one who leads from the front or one who tries to dishonestly shift the blame onto his own party and his own leaders to try to avoid tainting himself?

5. Is it the sign of a strong or “Majboot” leader who runs away from journalists when faced with straight but uncomfortable questions based on hard facts?

6. Is it not true, as also reported by the Indian Express (Coomi Kapoor) on Sunday, 12.04.2008, that Shri Advani walked out from a TV Channel’s interview when faced with uncomfortable questions?
7. We believe that Shri Advani was questioned about the corrupt practices of his party and hence walked away. Is this because he cannot face the truth?

8. How can a person who runs away from journalists prove to be a strong leader or deal with terrorists?

9. Is this not true or if Shri Advani disputes it, let him have the telecast of the interrupted interview done and the tapes be made public? Should not the concerned TV channel make this interview public as it did in the case of Mr. Modi who, in an earlier interview walked away but the incomplete interview was telecast nevertheless?

Questions on BJP’s manifesto of omissions

Question 1:

Will the BJP abolish the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA) scheme that is providing employment to crores of poor households across the country, while generating tangible public assets?

The BJP claims in its manifesto that ‘the much-publicized National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGA) has turned out to be as much a flop as all other schemes of the Government’, which shows that the BJP is once again in slumber or in denial about one of the most successful social welfare and public works programme in independent India. More than 4.3 crore poor households have already been provided employment and over 204 crore person days of employment has been created in rural India through the NREGA, raising incomes of the poorest households. So, the question to the BJP is: Does the BJP propose to abolish this landmark employment programme that is transforming the lives of poor households across India?

The poorest households of India deserve an answer.

Question 2:

Why is the BJP manifesto silent on the role of the public sector? Is it because it wants to continue its policy of indiscriminate and non-transparent privatization by stealth?

There is not a word in the BJP manifesto on their policy towards the public sector. Perhaps this is because the BJP does not have faith in the public sector as evidenced by its actions when the NDA Government was in power. When in power, the NDA privatized public sector companies such as BALCO and Centaur Hotel at discounted prices causing major losses to the exchequer. So, the question to the BJP is: Why is the BJP’s manifesto silent on the public sector? Is it because it wants to continue by stealth its policy of blind privatization that it followed during the regime of the NDA Government?
The people of India deserve an answer.

Question 3:

Why is the BJP’s manifesto bereft on any ideas on industrial development?

There is not a word in the manifesto on how the BJP will spur industrial development. How does it plan to create new jobs for India’s youth if it does not have any plans for developing the industrial sector where, as we know from historical experience, the bulk of new jobs are created in a country at our level of development? Is the BJP intellectually bankrupt on ideas for the industrial development of India?

The youth of India deserve an answer.

Question 4:

Does the BJP have any tangible plan on agricultural loan waiver beyond the vague statement “Waive Agricultural Loans” that adorn its manifesto? Or is it promising to do something that the Congress-led UPA Government has already done?

The BJP’s manifesto has exactly three words on agricultural loan waiver: “Waive Agricultural Loans”. Does the BJP have nothing to offer the farmers of India beyond this vague rhetoric? Is this because the Congress-led UPA Government has already done what the BJP is now beginning to promise, having waived farm loans worth Rs. 65,000 crore? Whose loans will the BJP wave? Those whose loans have already been waived by the UPA Government? How much of the loans will it waive? For how long?

The farmers of India deserve an answer.

Question 5:

How exactly does the BJP propose to ‘improve upon the POTA”? What more will it do that goes beyond the strong anti-terror law – the amended UPA – that the Congress-led UPA Government has already enacted?

The BJP has promised in it’s manifesto “to improve upon POTA”? But once again, it is an attempt to use rhetoric to sway the people of India, without any description of details beyond these vague words. There are only two provisions of POTA that are not included in the amended Unlawful Activities Prevention Act - the anti-terror legislation that was strengthened by the Congress-led UPA Government – and both are obnoxious provisions. The first is the provision that confession to a police officer will be admissible as evidence in court. The second is the provision that if the public prosecutor opposes bail, the court should not grant bail. The first has been criticized recently by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The second is opposed to all notions of justice. So the qu4estion to the BJP is: Will it “improve” upon the POTA by adding these provisions?

The citizens of India deserve an answer.

To a question as to why the prices of the consumer goods were sky-rocketing despite the rate of inflation coming down, Dr. Singhvi said that the rate of inflation which is the only known measure of measuring the inflation has dramatically and significantly come down as far as wholesale price index is concerned and has come down significantly even in the consumer price index. However we are aware that taking advantage of the fact that country is locked into an election, certain sectors, purely due to artificial shortages, are trying to increase the prices. If the WPI and the CPI is dramatically down from what it were in January, December November and October, it is only because of artificially created shortages by certain segments indulging in black marketing, hoarding and utilizing the temporary election mood of the country. The Congress party is as aware and sympathetic and as much with the people of the country than anybody else.

Dr. Singhvi said that we are going to use the stick in a big way to deal with such sectoral imbalances. However, you will appreciate that it may take sometime. Dr. Singhvi further said that this is highly temporary phenomena for some products. We are aware, we are taking decisions. Unfortunately with Model of Code of Conduct, policy decisions cannot be initiated and the tragedy is that some hoarders and black marketers and sectoral people are taking advantage of that freeze. Very soon after the elections, you will find a difference. We will further ensure that this does not happen with the use of stringent ‘danda’.

To the question of statement of Shri Modi of the BJP party over the ‘Charare Shareif’ incident and alleging giving safe passage to the terrorists, Dr. Singhvi said that the position has already been made clear by the Home Minister. Dr. Singhvi said that it was only because of our Armed as well as Security forces fighting the terrorists for 5-6 days continuously that we could save the lives of the innocents and also save the religious place. The BJP party should tender apology to the Armed as well as Security Forces for insulting them. It is a shame on Mr. Modi that he is terming this as offering chicken biryani to the terrorists and offering them a safe passage.

To the question of the Congress party’s reaction over somebody throwing a chappal on Shri Advani in a public meeting in Madhya Pradesh, Dr. Singhvi said that a process in a democracy which involves any form of violence and aggression, be it shoe throwing or anything else, irrespective of political colour, political party, is not something which should be supported. It is condemnable and I hereby condemn it. Dr. Singhvi said that he does not want to score debating points with either Shri Advani or the BJP but certainly think that this is unsustainable and unsupportable.




(Tom Vadakkan)

Secretary, AICC