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Journalism of Courage
Dismissing the Congress’ claims that raising the issue of foreign origin of AICC president Sonia Gandhi amounts to personal criticism, Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani today asserted that it is a topic of political debate.
‘‘The foreign origin issue is not personal, but a political matter,’’ he told mediapersons here during his Bharat Uday Yatra. Asserting that it is wrong to describe the issue as a personal attack, he said: ‘‘It even had a direct effect on the Congress which split on the issue.’’
‘‘A person whom they had made the Speaker of the Lok Sabha left the party and is still not prepared to join it due to differences on foreign origin issue,’’ he said, apparently referring the P.A. Sangma. Advocating simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the country, Advani said: ‘‘I would like to reiterate my strong belief that the election season in India should be both fixed and simultaneous.’’
Speaking on the occasion, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said: ‘‘I don’t accept anyone as Prime Minister for whom tulsi is mere basil, Ganga is Ganges and gobar is only cow dung. We consider tulsi, cow and Ganga as mothers.’’
‘‘India is my motherland. But for her (Sonia) it is just another country. She has failed to understand our culture,’’ Sushma said. ‘‘Our brothers sacrificed their lives to defend the nation. But will any of her brothers come here to save the country.
Contrasting Sonia’s roadshow with Advani’s yatra, Sushma described it as tamasha. She said the roadshow is a commercial concept undertaken by business companies while yatra is used to spread message to people. ‘‘Yatras are undertaken by sufis, saints and fakirs,’’ she said.
Advani sought a national consensus on citizenship identity cards to strengthen internal security. ‘‘Illegal immigration is a major problem for India and it has reached horrific proportions. No other country faces this problem to the magnitude that India does. There is a need for consensus for creating a national register of citizens and providing citizenship identity cards, important for internal security,’’ he said.
