Parties use LS debate to play to the gallery

The debate on the Indo-Pak joint statement on Wednesday was utilised by the ruling Congress and the Opposition as an occasion....

The debate on the Indo-Pak joint statement on Wednesday was utilised by the ruling Congress and the Opposition as an occasion to score brownie points with their respective core constituencies.

Former BJP vice-president Yashwant Sinha,who thanked the party leadership for having allowed him to initiate the debate,accused the Prime Minister of using the term Islamic Republic of Pakistan (instead of just Pakistan),inviting loud protests from the Treasury benches. Congress MPs Adhir Chowdhury and Manish Tewari immediately sprang to their feet,demanding to know why had former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited Minar-e-Pakistan and why had L K Advani given Jinnah a certificate of secularism.

Congresss P C Chacko who spoke next,and responded to Sinhas charges,reminded Sinha of his status of a convert in the saffron fold,and how the lauh purush (implying former Union Home Minister L K Advani) was found limping when the Parliament House was attacked (in 2001) leading to a howl of protests from the Opposition benches.

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Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav on his part,pointed to BJPs Murli Manohar Joshi and said that the BJPs bid to cling to the Mandir-Masjid all this while would prove counterproductive,even as he pointed out that the saffron party had not allowed him to sleep one wink for full eleven days (during the initial phase of Ayodhya agitation,when he was CM) following which he managed to save the Masjid (Babri Masjid).

The SP leader also used the opportunity to reclaim Jaiprakash Narayan the symbol of anti-Congress politics. Indira Gandhi can be faulted for clamping Emergency on the country,but it was the same Indira who used JP as an ambassador-at-large to tell the world about Bangla refugees in the country,following which she liberated East Bengal (from Pakistan).