PM raps Cong attitude

CALCUTTA, MARCH 20: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today came down heavily on the Congress for what he called its obstructionist rol...

CALCUTTA, MARCH 20: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today came down heavily on the Congress for what he called its obstructionist role, not only on Bihar, but on other issues as well. Governments will come and go but such a role for the Opposition is not good for democracy, he told a BJP rally at the Brigade Parade Ground here this afternoon.

The Congress felt like “fish out of water” when it was not in power and there was no democracy within the party itself, he said. The Prime Minister recalled that the Congress had promised to play the role of a “constructive opposition” when he assumed office. But on Bihar and other issues, including that of the Pokharan blast, the party had only sought to raise hurdles on the government’s working. “We had not done this while we sat in the Opposition for 40 years,” he said.

Today’s rally came as a shot in the arm for the West Bengal BJP, which could not think of organising a rally on its own at the huge ground a few years ago. The turnout was close to 80,000which may not have been much by the standards of political rallies at the Brigade but was certainly heartwarming for the saffron brigade here.

On Bihar, he also accused the Left of siding with the Rabri government, although “they claim to care of Dalits.” He took Jyoti Basu to task for repeatedly calling his government “uncivilised and barbaric.” While refusing to engage in a slanging match with Basu, he wondered what his government had done to earn this sort of rebuke. An ancient “civilisation” like India would not allow an “uncivilised” government in New Delhi and then had a dig at Basu, saying, “I can’t, though, say the same about a state Government.” TRINAMOOL ABSENT: BJP ally Trinamool Congress stayed away from the public rally addressed by the Prime Minister. Although Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee was away in Lucknow to attend a programme of the Loktantrik Congress, no one from her party was present at the rally organised by the state BJP.