Advani defends Modi, targets Sonia, Buddha

Leader of Opposition L K Advani on Friday showered praises on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi...

Leader of Opposition L K Advani on Friday showered praises on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, while coming down heavily on Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Advani termed Sonia’s “merchants of death” remark as “highly objectionable” which “betrays a perverse mind,” even as he trained his guns on the Left and West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

Talking to reporters at the end of the winter session of Parliament, he said the Opposition NDA had successfully exposed the Left and UPA like never before. The discussion in Parliament on the Indo-US nuclear deal proved that the sense of the House is against implementation of the deal and the Government should not proceed with it, he said. The debate “exposed the isolation” of Congress as even its allies in the UPA put up an “indifferent” and “half-hearted” defence of the deal, the BJP leader said. “Never before had the NDA so clearly succeeded in cornering both Congress and Communists, separately as well as jointly…Never before had UPA Government’s opportunistic alliance been completely exposed,” Advani said.

On the other hand, Advani’s outburst against Sonia was matched by his unqualified praise for Modi. To a question, Advani even said that he “would only be happy if an individual’s popularity is more than the party’s.”

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The BJP leader demanded that the Election Commission take action against Sonia for her “merchant of death” remark against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Asked what he thought of BJP leader Keshubhai Patel’s statement that compared Modi to Hitler, Advani said such terms are “usually used against someone for being autocratic, and has nothing to do with violence.” The BJP leader also ruled out disciplinary action against Keshubhai saying, “he has not done anything that calls for disciplinary action.”

Advani said he had not spoken to Modi after his reported speech on Sohrabuddin encounter, but had got inputs from those who were present there. “He was talking in the context of terrorism. Terrorists are merchants of death, no matter which religion they belong to,” he added. Asked whether he supported extra-constitutional killings, Advani said “absolutely not” and added that “in a democracy, rule of law has to be observed and if there is a breach of law,courts are there to take congnizance.” On PM Manmohan Singh’s statements questioning the claims of Modi on development, Advani said even the Sonia Gandhi-led Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and the Planning Commission had praised the Gujarat model.

Ridiculing Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s statement in which he had admitted that Nandigram was a failure of the state Government, Advani said admission of guilt and apology were not enough. “The CPI (M) cadres who had indulged in violence should be proceeded against.” He said Bhattacharjee’s apology for saying that the CPI (M) paid in the same coin only shows that it was his party cadre, which indulged in violence.

Advani also condemned Bhattacharjee’s alleged statement questioning the existence of Lord Ram. “His comment was highly objectionable not only politically but also under the law as it is an offence to hurt the religious sentiments of any community and in this case it was the majority community,” Advani said.