The Hindu : National : Sonia makes frontal attack on BJP

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 15, 2004

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National

Sonia makes frontal attack on BJP

By Our Special Correspondent

MODASA (GUJARAT), APRIL 14. The Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, today said that the entire country was feeling ``relieved and satisfied'' over the Supreme Court judgment, ordering a retrial in the Best Bakery case outside Gujarat.

Addressing a meeting at the minority-dominated Modasa town in Sabarkantha district in Gujarat, Ms. Gandhi said the country was ``proud'' of its judicial system.

Ms. Gandhi said that the BJP had truly emerged as a ``party with a difference'' because it was a party that kept changing its principles and ideologies to suit its political ambitions. The Congress, on the contrary, felt proud to stick to its principles and ideologies despite heavy odds. ``Two of our leaders sacrificed their lives for the cause of upholding the ideology. The Congress has never wavered from its chosen path,'' she said.

It was Ms. Gandhi's second visit to Gujarat after her whirlwind `Jan Sampark Abhiyan' that took her through the tribal belt in the State last month. During her day's visit today, she addressed meetings at Bhuj, the district headquarter of Kutch, Jamnagar, Modasa and Bodeli in Vadodara district.

Beginning her address with a tribute to Babasaheb Ambedkar on his birth anniversary, Ms. Gandhi launched a frontal attack on the BJP, which she said was eroding political values causing ``great despair and concern'' among the people. The country's ``civility and tradition'' was at stake and ``we should give a very serious thought to it.''

Politics should be treated as a vehicle to serve the people but the BJP was using politics for ``personal benefits.'' Describing the BJP as the ``slaves of the forces that spread hatred and violence,'' she said the people of Gujarat recently experienced the fallout of its ``dangerous policies'' drawing condemnation from all over the world.The Supreme Court judgment had thankfully provided ''relief and satisfaction'' to the people in the country.

The BJP leadership was insensitive to the problems facing the people in the country. ``If the party had any sensitivity and sympathy for the people, it would not have only talked of creating one crore job opportunities but would have actually created it, hundreds of farmers would not have been forced to commit suicide and the backbone of the middle class families would not have been broken under the pressure of high price rise,'' she said.

The only difference the people had experienced during the reign of the ``party with a difference'' was increasing corruption, utter misrule and the politics of convenience. It was not a party that could run a government on ``principles'' but could only divide the country on caste and communal lines. ``You made the mistake last time and you have a chance to amend it. Do not repeat it,'' she said.

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