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BJP TODAY

September 16--30, 2004 - Vol. 13, No. 18

Non-performance in every sphere of governance
UPA government's track record in first 100 days

Statement issued by Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu President, BJP

The Congress-led UPA government has completed 100 days. The BJP challenges the Congress leadership to present before the nation a report card of its government's achievements in this period. It would paint a very dismal picture, indeed. For these are some of the government's main "achievements":

  • 100 per cent rise in inflation in 100 days, burdening the "aam aadmi" (common man) with a steep increase in the prices of all essential goods;
  • Complete failure on the legislative front with not a single new bill having been introduced in the first 100 days;
  • Betrayal of the promise to launch, within the first 100 days, an Employment Guarantee Scheme with assured employment for at least 100 days in a year to at least one person in every BPL family;
  • Surrender of the interests of Indian kisans at the WTO meet in Geneva;
  • Defending the criminalisation of the Union government (which has happened for the first time since Independence with the inclusion of tainted ministers);
  • Abandoning or marginalizing several major development initiatives of the NDA government, and renaming of some schemes after the "Dynasty".
  • Doubling of infiltration of Pak-trained terrorists into Jammu & Kashmir, as per the statement of the Army.
  • Minister of State for Home, Shri Shriprakash Jaiswal admitting in Parliament that there are as many as 1.2 crore Bangladeshi infiltrators in India, the Prime Minister denying it the very next day in Guwahati, and thereafter the minister disowning his own words.
  • Steps taken to repeal POTA, utterly disregarding the continuing menace of terrorism in many parts of the country.
  • Not a single official meeting with the opposition on any issue in the first 100 days.

Another glaring "achievement" of the UPA government is that it has three power centres. For the first time since Independence, India has a PM, an "SPM" - Super Prime Minister -- and the CPM. Dr. Manmohan Singh is so powerless that he seems to neither control his own ministers nor his party's chief ministers.

Not a day passes without the bickerings within the ruling coalition. The past 100 days have seen the Left parties threatening the government on umpteen occasions, even though their "bite" has only remained a "sound byte" so far.

Infighting among partners started with the allocation of portfolios, which has not ceased till now. As late as Thursday, Shri Laloo Prasad Yadav, who had stoutly opposed the Railway Ministry being given to Shri Ram Vilas Paswan, said, "If I am given the Home Ministry, I don't mind Paswan being made the Railway Minister." He has called Paswan's party "aparadhiyon ki toli" (a gang of criminals), whereas Paswan has demanded the ouster of tainted ministers belonging to the RJD. TRS leader continues to remain a minister in the Union government without a portfolio.

In an unprecedented affront to the Constitution, the Congress Chief Minister of Punjab has annulled the river water agreement with neighbouring states without so much as informing, much less consulting, the Prime Minister. Similarly, the Chief Minister of Manipur has openly defied the Centre and got a resolution passed for the scrapping of the Armed Forces Special Provisions Act.

Manipur continues to be on the boil. In Assam, ULFA extremists, aided and abetted by the ISI, are striking with abandon. On Independence Day, they massacred 15 innocent women and children in Assam. There is still no sign of the release of Indian hostages in Iraq. Large parts of Bihar and Assam were inundated by floods, but the RJD and Congress governments there have completely failed in organizing relief and rehabilitation to the victims. On the contrary, the Bihar government's response to the agitating flood victims was to order police firing on them, in which four persons were killed.

While the government is least bothered about governance, it is hyperactive as far as confrontation with the opposition is concerned. Governors appointed by the NDA government were summarily sacked and the action was defended on "ideological" reasons. The HRD Minister, egged on by the Communists, launched a campaign for "re-falsification" of history text books prepared by NCERT. He deliberately chose not to invite the BJP for an official conference on minority education and arrogantly defended his decision on "ideological" grounds. Later, he shocked the nation by giving an open call for purging government officers and employees who, in his eyes, were sympathetic to the RSS-BJP ideology. Obviously, all this was done with an eye on consolidating the minority vote-bank with a pseudo advocacy of secularism.

The government's confrontationist attitude towards the opposition reached a high-point in August with three shocking actions:

1) Insult to a National Hero like Veer Savarkar by ordering the removal of his plaque at the Cellular Jail in Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

2) Insult to the National Flag by plotting the imprisonment of Uma Bharati in a blatantly false and politically motivated case in Hubli, in which her sole "crime" was defence of the citizens' right to hoise the Tricolour at a public place on August 15 and January 26.

3) The Prime Minister refused to even accept a memorandum from the Opposition leaders.
So, this is the pathetic track record of the UPA government in its 100 days. The BJP would like to say only one thing to those in power: Stop confrontation, Start governance.
And the best way of showing that they have stopped the politics of confrontation is by accepting our three main demands:

  • Withdraw the false case against Uma Bharati;
  • Make amends to the insult done to Veer Savarkar;
  • Sack all the remaining tainted ministers from the Union government.