|
Taliban is just a five-hour drive from India: Jaitley
Raising the spectre of looming threats from Taliban and deteriorating economy, the BJP on Wednesday slammed the UPAs policy on the nation's security and economy and described Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as a night watchman.Slamming the over-all performance of the UPA Government and questioning the authority of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in leading the nation in these difficult times, Jaitley said, The Prime Minister of the worlds largest democracy cannot be a night watchman of a cricket team. Singh was neither the natural leader of the party nor that of the alliance. Unfortunately for the Prime Minister, he was never the first choice of his party to lead the nation. Even right now, the emphasis is on the heir apparent of one family, he said, adding that Singh was merely a stop-gap arrangement in a stop-gap job. Ridiculing the type of alliance Singh was given to head, Jaitley said that the first four-and-a-half years he invested in fighting the supporting party (Left) and the rest six months with the Samajwadi Party, which made a sudden entry as a saviour of the Government. Cautioning the Government against threats from across the border, the senior BJP leader said Taliban was at five hours motorable distance from Amritsar and just 100 km from Islamabad. He was taking part in a debate on the motion of thanks on the presidential address. Saying the Taliban had no respect for geographical boundaries, Jaitley remarked, The Taliban conceives global domination and theocratic state as well as totalitarian regime. Underlining that Pakistan was the source of all terror , he said mere partial acceptance by Islamabad of the use of its territory for the Mumbai attack was not enough. There are many powers in the world that want to keep Pakistan in good humour, he said, adding that the challenge before India was to alienate those powers from helping the hub of terror. Jaitley accused the UPA Government of not taking the issue of terrorism seriously as it was playing politics on such vital issues. You have always been in the state of denial on security threats, he added. Jaitley said every act of vote bank politics of the UPA Government gave credence to idea called the Taliban. The Government which kept campaigning that the NDA response to terrorists was anti-minority fell in its own trap of the phoney logic, he said. As was evident from the Mumbai attack, the intelligence agencies were in a shambles with different groups passing the buck to one another, the BJP leader said. While the response to the terrorist attacks on Parliament and Akshardham temple was quick, terrorists engaged the security forces for days in the Mumbai attack, he said. While Pakistan has asked for the custody of the sole surviving terrorist involved in 26/11, it has not passed an accusing finger at any of its agencies, like the ISI, Jaitley added. On the state of economy, the BJP general secretary said the presidential address gave no vision how to combat the recessionary trend in the economy. "When you came to power, you had a booming economy with 8.4 per cent growth rate. When you are going, the country is faced with depression and slowdown," he added. Accusing the Government of misusing the CBI, he said, For you, the CBI is a catalyst of political alliance with the BSP or the SP at different times. CPI(M) member Brinda Karat also said the presidential address was a "bundle of disrespect" towards the burning issues facing the nation. "This address has no direction because the Government itself is completely directionless," she said, adding that the Government had shown "utmost contempt" of Parliament itself saying it by-passed the House on important issues and ignored standing committee recommendations. Citing that just before the start of the Parliament session, the Government through a Cabinet decision allowed FDI in all sectors, thereby opening the doors for entry of big retail chains like Wal-Mart through the backdoor. The CPI(M) leader said under the incumbent Government, the country had witnessed the "worst type of crony capitalism" and that the private-public partnership had become the same. Attacking the Government on inflation, she said the price rise was because of the policies of the Centre, particularly on food front. "The granaries are full, but people's kitchens are empty," she said. She said the RSS fronts were competing with what the Taliban was doing across the border and suggested that the fight against terrorism should be combined with the fight against communalism. Forward Bloc member Barun Mukherji said the President's address seemed like "a Congress manifesto". Posted by: john frum 2009-02-19 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=262930 |