NDA MPs condemn the Congress for its vindictive move against Sushri Uma Bharati in the Tricolour-hoisting case; Demand immediate resignation of all tainted ministers in the UPA government

Members of Parliament belonging to constituent parties of the National Democratic Alliance met in New Delhi today (August 24, 2004). They unanimously adopted the following resolution, which is being released to the media by Shri George Fernandes, Convenor of NDA.

The Congress party, which is known for its intolerant attitude towards its opponents, has covered itself with unmitigated disgrace by hatching a mean political plot against Sushri Uma Bharati, who quit as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh yesterday. Never in the history of independent India has a ruling party at the Centre conspired to secure the arrest and resignation of a chief minister for upholding the honour of the Indian Flag.

The NDA holds Congress president Smt. Sonia Gandhi directly responsible for ordering her party's government in Karnataka to reopen a baseless ten-year-old case against Uma Bharati in the Tricolour-hoisting incident in Hubli. This is a blatant and desperate attempt by the Congress party to protect several tainted ministers in the UPA government, whose removal is now sought even by some constituents of the UPA itself. Indeed, our worst fears about Smt. Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin have now come true because she has sought to equate Uma Bharati, who agitated for the citizens' right to hoist the Tricolour at any public place, with those in the UPA government who are charged with heinous crimes like murder, kidnapping, extortion, fraud and loot of the public exchequer.

By protecting tainted ministers in the UPA government on the one hand, and on the other hand seeking the arrest of Uma Bharati, Smt. Sonia Gandhi has clearly shown that she does not understand the history and ethos of India, nor the psyche of the Indian people. Similarly, by committing this national shame, the Congress leadership has revealed itself to be unscrupulous, scheming and power-hungry, devoid of any principles.

Nothing illustrates this better than the Congress party's contrasting positions on the cases involving Shri Taslimuddin, MoS Civil Supplies, and Uma Bharati. It has colluded with the RJD government in Bihar, which recently withdrew a murder case against Shri Taslimuddin, in a brazen attempt to thwart the NDA's campaign against tainted ministers. In Karnataka, however, The Congress leadership directed its government to withdraw its own earlier application to withdraw the case against Uma Bharati in the Tricolour-hoisting matter.

The NDA notes with great concern that, whereas the Congress leadership is expending all its time and energy in vindictive politics against the opposition, it seems to be least bothered about governance. The 'aam aadmi', in whose name it sought the vote in the recent parliamentary elections, is groaning under the growing burden of price rise. Inflation is rising menacingly. Manipur is in turmoil. Extremists in Assam have killed women and children on Independence Day. The Army Chief himself has stated that infiltration of terrorists from across the border into Jammu & Kashmir has sharply increased. The government has failed so far to secure the release of Indian hostages in Iraq. Large parts of Bihar have been devastated by floods. Rather than rushing relief to them, the response of the state government is to shower them with bullets. Farmer's suicides are continuing. Instead of attending to these basic tasks of governance, the Congress party has chosen to indulge in a witch-hunt against Uma Bharati.

Just about every aspect of the case against Uma Bharati shows how indefensible is the stand of the Congress-led government in Karnataka and of the Congress party at the Centre.

The Karnataka High Court, and all the lower courts, have ruled that the maidan in Hubli (which is named after Kittur Rani Chennamma, a great fighter in India's First War of Independence), where citizens had sought to hoist the national flag on August 15 and January 26 belongs to the municipal corporation.
Political parties have routinely held their meetings at the maidan and even displayed their party flags.
There was no communal clash on August 15, 1994, when Uma Bharati went to Hubli to participate in the flag-hoisting programme.
All the six innocent persons who lost their lives on that day were killed in unprovoked police firing at a place far away from the maidan.
The police filed a politically motivated case against Uma Bharati, in which the charges under Section 307 of CrPC included "attempt to murder". This, in spite of the fact that she could neither reach the maidan nor make any speech in the city during her visit as she was taken into preventive custody by the police.
That the charge against Uma Bharati is baseless is proven by the fact that in 2002 the Congress government in Karnataka, headed by Shri S.M. Krishna, applied for the withdrawal of all the cases in the Hubli incident, including the one against Uma Bharati. He even telephoned her to inform of his government's decision to withdraw the case against her.
All the cases were indeed withdrawn, except the one under Section 307, and that too for technical reasons. Indeed, only two months ago, the state government filed a revision petition in the Hubli district and sessions court seeking withdrawal of the case against Uma Bharati, too.
Uma Bharati became the CM of Madhya Pradesh only in December last year. Before that, there was a Congress government in MP, as well as in Karnataka. At no point did either the Congress government in Karnataka or the Congress party in MP raise the matter of enforcing the non-bailable warrant against Uma Bharati.

It is only after the NDA intensified its campaign against the tainted ministers in the UPA government that the Congress-led government in Karnataka, under the specific diktat of Smt. Sonia Gandhi, decided to withdraw its earlier application seeking withdrawal of the case against Uma Bharati. The Karnataka government lost no time in dispatching its police to arrest Uma Bharati. And the Congress party at the Centre lost no time in demanding her resignation.

In view of the above, the NDA MPs make the following two demands:

1) The Government of Karnataka must immediately withdraw the baseless and politically motivated case against Sushri Uma Bharati.

2) Having raised the demand for the resignation of Uma Bharati, the Congress party and the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh are duty-bound to secure the resignations of all the tainted ministers in the UPA government without any further delay.

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