Salient points in the speech by
Shri L.K. Advani
Leader of the Opposition (Lok Sabha)

On the occasion of the function to mark
the BJP’s Sthapana Divas

New Delhi - 6 April 2008

Today is Varsha Pratipada. It means Birth of the Year and marks the beginning of the Hindu Spring New Year. It is an auspicious day that symbolises renewal. It is a good day to start new ventures.

In history, Varsha Pratipada marks the coronation of King Vikramaditya and Vikaram-Samvat was started from this Padwa day. He was one of the greatest kings who ruled India. Later in the afternoon, I am going to Ujjain, where a grand function to commemorate Vikramaditya’s coronation is being held.

All of us here are doubly happy today because today is also the Sthapana Divas of the BJP. It was on this day, 6th April, in 1980 that we founded our party after those of us from the Jana Sangh were expelled from the Janata Party on the bogus “double membership” issue.

That day in 1980 was the Day of Resurrection, in Christian belief. It indeed proved to be a Day of Resurrection for the BJP, as we can see by looking back at our party’s journey over the past 28 years.

Similarly, as we celebrate our party’s Sthapana Divas today on Varsha Pratipada, which, as I said, is a good day to start a new venture, I am confident that the BJP will be victorious in the year ahead.

No doubt, all of us have to work hard and with greater determination and application than ever before. But when has the BJP ever shirked from doing the needful in a time of challenge. Never.

Friends, today is a day festival. A day of rejoicing, and sharing one’s joy by inviting relatives and friends over to one’s house. Sadly, the common people can hardly rejoice on Padwa, or celebrate any other festival, in the UPA regime. Festivity has become unaffordable — indeed, daily living has become a tormenting experience — thanks to the skyrocketing prices of all essential commodities. Foodgrains, edible oil, sugar, milk, vegetables, fruits, electricity, transportation — there is not a single item of daily need, whose price provides any comfort to the aam aadmi and aam aurat.

It is not only roti and kapada that is now beyond the reach of the common man; even makan, since the prices of steel and cement have shot up enormously from the level at which they were during the NDA regime. The Vajpayee government had also ensured that bank interest rates were kept low, as a result of which tens of lakhs of people, especially the urban middle classes, saw their dream of owning a house realized. Today that dream has disappeared for them.

Young people, many of whom will be first-time voters, are worried that the cost of college and professional education is shooting up. Which means that, quality education and good jobs will be beyond the reach of the youth belonging to poor and middle classes.

The rise in the cost of healthcare is beyond anybody’s imagination. People dread to fall sick, because any major episode of hospitalization entails depletion of family assets and even indebtedness. Studies have shown that many of the kisans who committed suicide in recent years did so on account of their inability to repay loans taken from private money-lenders for medical treatment.

This is how the Congress party has kept its promise of caring for the aam aadmi, in whose name it sought the mandate in 2004.

Friends, we know the kind of post-Budget propaganda that the UPA government mounted. But the balloon of the so-called Dream Budget has burst. The government’s own figures show that the inflation rate has risen to 7 per cent.

This is official admission of the UPA government's utter failure to control prices of essential commodities.

As far as the common man is concerned, price rise means daily loot from his meager family budget.

I ask the Prime Minister: Who is responsible for this loot?

The common people are today fondly recalling the Vajpayee government's success in keeping prices under check.

Indeed, the people are also seeing the contrast between the NDA government and the UPA government in every other aspect of governance.

The UPA government's failure to contain prices reminds them that, historically, whenever the Congress has come to power at the Centre, price rise, corruption and malgovernance have also come along.

Today, I wish to forewarn the Congress party: there are several reasons why the people are angry with your rule. But, as far as price is concerned, they will make you pay a heavy price whenever the elections are held.