bjp-l-digest Tuesday, February 3 1998 Volume 02 : Number 046
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News and Analysis Digest
Index:
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Rajmata's rule book
BJP's popularity soars in Andhra and TN
Greek gift for BJP
BJP gaining in West Bengal
Vote for stability without corruption
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Date: Mon, 2 Feb 1998 14:52:52 -0500
From: editor@ofbjp.org
Subject: Rajmata's rule book
Title: Rajmata's rulebook
Author: T.V.R. Shenoy
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: January 31, 1998
You can fool all of the people some of the time," Abraham Lincoln mused,
"and you can fool some of the people all of the time. But you can't fool
all of the people all of the time."
Sonia Gandhi should be content if she succeeds in fooling all of India in
the run-up to the general election, the cynical calculation being that it
doesn't matter if voters wake up later. By then the Rajmata of the Congress
will have a blank cheque for five years.
This explains her amateurish attempts to brush over Rajiv Gandhi's
wishy-washy stance on Ayodhya and her crocodile tears over Operation
Bluestar. "History is bunk!" said Henry Ford, and the "inspiration" of the
Congress seems determined to prove him right. But now the Rajmata isn't
rewriting history as much as trying to recreate it.
Thirteen years ago, Rajiv Gandhi was marketed as the =91Mr Clean=92 of India=
n
politics. He spoke of wiping out the "power brokers" in the Congress. Now,
Sonia Gandhi is desperately trying to be seen as a 'Mrs Clean'.
'Mr Clean=92 didn=92t rid his party of those "power brokers". And you don't
have to put 'Mrs Clean' in the Prime Minister's chair to discover that she
is just being as hypocritical. Just take a look at the list of Congress
candidates.
I pass over the choice of R.K. Dhawan for New Delhi as he is clearly
Sitaram Kesri's man. But how about Deepa Kaul in Rae Bareilly? Or Jaffer
Sharief in Bangalore? Or, lest we forget, Satish Sharma in Amethi?
Let us start with Deepa Kaul, an unfamiliar name to many. In the finest
traditions of nepotism, she turns out to be Rajiv Gandhi's cousin, a
daughter of Shiela Kaul. But we shouldn't hold her relatives against her,
should we? True, but Deepa Kaul's name features in a CBI probe.
Shiela Kaul, once Union Urban Development Minister, is being investigate in
connection with the allotment of commercial property. What isn't widely
known is that the list of beneficiaries includes two boys, Vivek and
Ashish, who just happen to be Deepa Kaul's sons. But the surnames were
carefully omitted and a wrong address was provided. Naani yaad dila denge!
- -was an immortal Rajiv Gandhi remark. His aunt certainly did her best to
ensure that Vivek and Ashish would remember their generous naani forever.
Shiela Kaul testified in the Supreme Court that she had forgotten that the
beneficiaries were her grandchildren! Perhaps the poor naani feared that
her grandsons had inherited the family weakness of poor memory and needed
concrete reminders.
Given that Rae Bareilly is seen as the Nehru-Gandhi clan=92s jagir, Sonia
Gandhi definitely had a hand in picking the Congress nominee for the seat.
Her choice is a pointer to her bent of mind.
Now to neighbouring Amethi, where Satish Sharma is the Congress's
flag-bearer. By the way, why does everyone refer to him as 'Captain'? That
is an honour reserved for officers of the armed forces. Surely you wouldn't
describe the general manager of Indian Airlines as 'General'!
Assuming an undeserved honour is the least of Sharma's sins, which include
gifting petrol pumps and gas agencies with wild abandon. Among the "needy"
were a director of the Bank of Baroda, the wife of an IFS officer, and a
woman who gave a false affidavit claiming to belong to a scheduled caste.
The Supreme Court acidly remarked that he had treated the Petroleum
Ministry as his "feudal property". ("It was standard practice," was
Sharma's defence - a reminder of the Congress traditions that Sonia Gandhi
wants restored.)
The CBI has completed the investigations on 15 of these allocations. But
the Gujral ministry is still to grant sanction though the chargesheet is
ready. Of course, Gujral has a well- publicised dislike for "witch
hunts"...
The abuse of ministerial discretion may be the tip of the iceberg. There is
currently a wide-ranging investigation into Satish Sharma's entire assets.
=46or good measure, allegations have also been raised against his wife,
Stere, a crony of Sonia Gandhi (and a fellow exile from Europe). The
Rajmata claims to have a soft spot for Amethi. Is this how she proves it,
by leaving the constituency to a man who has been the subject of Supreme
Court's strictures?
It might be argued, of course, that Satish Sharma isn't a Congressman born
and bred, but merely one of Rajiv Gandhi's cronies from outside politics.
But that dishwater argument scarcely holds for Jaffer Sharief, does it?
Sharief is a Congressman of the old school. Quite predictably, he was the
subject of an investigation because he owns assets utterly out of
proportion to his known income. The probe is complete and the chargesheet
is filed. Jaffer Sharief is, also, incidentally, a central figure in
another enquiry dealing with unauthorised foreign travel by his personal
staff.
Did 'Mrs. Clean=92 wield the broom on her trip to Bangalore? Not a bit of it=
!
She brazenly dared Gujral & Co to release the relevant papers on Bofors,
knowing perfectly well that they cannot do so without breaking the
agreement with the Swiss authorities. But in Jaffer Sharief s case the
chargesheet is ready, yet she didn't say a word about cleansing the
Congress of this "power broker".
Conventional wisdom has it that Sonia Gandhi has openly entered politics in
a last-ditch attempt to bury the Bofors investigations. Because 10, Janpath
knows, who better, that the Bofors trail doesn't stop with an Italian
called Quattrocchi.
Nor is Bofors all that the Nehru-Gandhis need to keep under wraps. Some
weeks ago, I spoke of the property controlled by Sonia Gandhi in the form
of one trust or the other. Since then, I have been hearing many more
interesting facts about these trusts. Did you know that one transaction
managed under the Rajmata's stewardship was so good that one trustee, the
late Sri Seshan (once Pandit Nehru's aide), chose to quit?
But Sonia Gandhi's motives may not be totally self-centred. She is also
fighting for all those poor, persecuted Congressmen such as Shiela Kaul,
Satish Sharma, and Jaffer Sharief.
In fact, going through the list of Congress candidates handpicked by Sonia
Gandhi makes me sorry for Ottavio Quattrocchi. With his qualifications he
could certainly have obtained a Congress ticket if only he had taken
citizenship in this country!
Sonia Gandhi has been waxing eloquent about bringing back the good, ol=92
days. Let us recognise her promise for what it is - a vow to restore the
corruption institutionalised by the Nehru- Gandhis.
So now you know why the falling morale of the average Congressman rose with
their goddess's arrival. Let me give you the slogan coined to celebrate the
occasion: "Sonia Gandhi aayee hai, puraana bhrashtachar laayee hai!"
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Date: Mon, 2 Feb 1998 14:53:59 -0500
From: editor@ofbjp.org
Subject: BJP's popularity soars in Andhra and TN
Date: Feb. 3, 1998
Source: Times of India
BJP's popularity soars in Andhra, TN
CHENNAI: How much advantage the BJP would be able
derive from the three-day tour of the south by
BJP stalwarts, Atal Behari Vajpayee and L.K.
Advani, may be difficult to say. However, it can
be inferred that the rallies addressed held by
the party leaders have provided a tremendous
boost to party cadres, raising hopes that the
party has chances of not only surviving, but can
even become a viable force in future.
This is the impression this correspondent
gathered during his visit to Andhra Pradesh and
Tamil Nadu where the BJP till recently had no
presence worth the name. The impressive turnout
at the rallies held at Hyderabad and Chennai, the
sudden emergence of saffron flags and a spurt in
the number of party activists indicate that the
graph of party's popularity is on the upswing.
For the first time on Sunday, illuminated saffron
flags and cut- outs of Mr Vajpayee and party
president L.K. Advani dotted the famous Marina
Beach. In their political careers spanning about
four decades, it was the first time that Mr
Vajpayee and Mr Advani addressed a rally on the
beach which was organised by the five-party front
led by AIADMK, BJP's alliance partner.
``This rally may not be a match to the rallies
held by Ms Jayalalitha along with Rajiv Gandhi
way back in 1990 and 1991. But it has it own
import.The wind is blowing in a different
direction. She may have provided a foothold to
the BJP by forging an alliance. But she will have
to wage a do-or-die battle to show her
popularity,'' reflected a senior AIADMK
functionary in an interaction with this
correspondent.
In the forthcoming election, of the 39 Lok Sabha
seats the BJP is fighting on five while the
AIADMK is contesting on 23 seats. The remaining
seats are being shared by PMK, MDMK, the Janata
Party and the Tamil Rajiv Congress. There are
apprehensions in the AIADMK circles that its
alliance with the BJP may cost it the votes of
the minority community.
That the BJP feels beholden to the AIADMK for
providing it an opportunity to make an ``entry''
into her state was amply demonstrated by Mr
Advani's emphasis during the Chennai rally on the
fact that although his party had forged alliances
with a number of parties, it strongly felt that
its alliance with the AIADMK was the most
formidable one. ``It is not the question of
thinking in terms of political advantage. The
significance of this alliance lies in the fact
that it would help in demolishing the divide
between the north and the south or between the
Dravidian parties and others''.
In his inimitable style, Mr Vajpayee told the
audience: ``You gave 50 years to the Congress, 18
months to the United Front and only 13 days to
me. So, I could not do much. Give me one more
chance. If I fail to give good government, I
would quit politics''.
The focus during Mr Vajpayee's rallies at
Vishakhapatnam, Anakapalle and Vijayawada in
coastal Andhra was on farmers who had been
annoyed with the TDP government, particularly
following the cyclone in 1996. Mr Vajpayee made a
pointed reference to the fact that over 70
farmers had been forced to commit suicide. Film
star Mohan Babu who was campaigning with Mr
Vajpayee said that farmers in big number had been
approaching him with their complaints and he was
moved to see their plight.
Mr Vajpayee's meetings in the coastal belt were
responsive. Talking to The Times of India at PWD
guest house in Vijayawada, Mr Vajpayee said:
``All my meetings in coastal Andhra were delayed,
but people waited for me. Does this not represent
a change in the people's attitude to my party''.
During the Hyderabad rally, the party's eyes were
apparently on the Banjara community which has a
sizable number of votes. The induction into the
party at this rally, of a formidable Banjara
leader, Ravinder Naik, was aimed at wooing the
Banjara voters. Mr Naik is now a BJP candidate
from Khaman.
In view of the fact that 30 per cent of voters in
Hyderabad belong to the minority community, Mr
Vajpayee made a shrewd bid to woo Muslims and the
backwards. He praised the performance of Muslims
in the country's defence services. Also, he
praised his own party for making a Dalit woman,
Mayawati the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.
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Date: Mon, 2 Feb 1998 14:54:49 -0500
From: editor@ofbjp.org
Subject: Greek gift for BJP
Title: Greek gift for BJP
Author: Editorial
Publication: The Times of India
Date: February 2, 1998
The ISI has stamped its approval on the BJP - no, not the Indian Standards
Institution which certifies products for quality, but the Pakistan-based
Inter-Services Intelligence which is behind much of our misery in Kashmir
and elsewhere. A recent article by a retired director-general of the
organisation, general Asad Durrani, gives full marks to the BJP, which he
describes as a party with a "refreshingly frank" worldview, a party whose
installation Pakistan should support. That this is far from being an
isolated opinion in sections generally considered adversarial to the BJP is
confirmed by the support offered to a future Vajpayee-led government by our
own Pro-Pakistan All-Party Hurriyat Conference. Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz
Maulvi Farooq not only felt Mr Vajpayee was the best of the current lot of
Prime- ministerial contenders, he was contemptuous of one-time favourites
Congress and the United Front: The Congress was the cause of the Kashmir
problem while the UF which came in to solve the problem had reneged on the
promise. All this will no doubt be music to the cars of the BJP which has
lately gone out of its way to open a channel of communication with the
minorities. The positive feelers from the anti-India establishment in
Pakistan as well as that of the Hurriyat would seem to vindicate the BJP's
stand that secularism as practised in this country had only harmed the
interests of the minorities.
A word of caution here, lest the BJP's supporters conclude that their
enemy's enemy is necessarily a friend. The BJP is opposed to secularism of
the Congress and Janata kind, so is Pakistan. But that does not make the
two natural allies. The BJP's quarrel with our secularists is over the
latter turning the minorities into a votebank, which is a legitimate
political position to take. Pakistan's only purpose in supporting a BJP
government in India is to establish the validity of the two-nation theory;
to prove that India is a Hindu country. To quote General Durrani : "We ,who
wanted to make Pakistan an Islamic state, and have made it so, have no
right to question the appropriateness of the BJP trying to make India a
Hindu state. In fact, logic demands that we should support that point of
view.... Pakistanis would know where they stand with a BJP government as
there would be no ambiguity on the subject." The hurriyat's support is for
similar reasons; with Article 370 gone, there would be nothing to link
India with Kashmir, says the maulvi. All this is not logic but claptrap.
India chose to be a non-denominatorial democracy ,and such it will remain.
Not because of any credo borrowed from outside, but because of the innate
pluralism of its multi-ethnic people. India is far too diverse and complex
for any government to be able to order, much less impose, a unitary way of
life. Unlike Pakistan which swiftly discarded all pretensions to being
non-sectarian, India has not swerved from its ideological path in the last
50 years The tragedy with Pakistan is not only that it cannot take care of
its minorities, but also that even its majority is virtually under a
dictatorship. It is in the interest of the BJP to reject a compliment it
can well do without and beware of Greeks in the guise of the ISI bearing
gifts.
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Date: Mon, 2 Feb 1998 22:19:32 -0500
From: editor@ofbjp.org
Subject: BJP gaining in West Bengal
Date: Feb 3, 1998
Spurce: Hindustan Times
West Bengal: 'BJP gaining support'
CALCUTTA, Feb. 2 (HT Correspondent)
President of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) West Bengal
unit Tapan Sikdar believes that his party could win at least
six seats in the state in the coming Lok Sabha polls.
According to him this view is based on "hard calculations".
If the tactical adjustment with the Trinamul Congress of Ms
Mamata Banerjee is a guarantee for success, equally important
is the growing image of the BJP in national politics and the
wide acceptance of the party's prime ministerial candidate
Atal Behari Vajpayee.
Mr Sikdar claims that the ground realities have changed since
the last elections and BJP has gained in the votes in the state.
The BJP's support base had expanded "four to five times" he
says, adding that the number of party members had risen from
2.19 lakh to 6.38 lakh in the last two years. The membership
of the party was still growing and more would join the party
in the course of the elections.
He refers to the panchayat and municipal by-elections in the
state as an indication of the BJP's growing strength in West
Bengal. Besides, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the
students wing of the party, had made its presence felt in
over 90 colleges in the state, he claims.
Mr Sikdar, who is contesting the Dum Dum Lok Sabha seat,
believes that the party has a distinct adavantage over its
rivals in Krishna Nagar, Nmalda, Royganj, Behrampur,
Alipurduar and Birbhum apart from Dum Dum.
In Dum Dum for instance, he says that a number of industries
have either closed down or are in bad shape. Yet, Mr Nirmal
Chatterjee, CPI(M) MP from the area, did precious little to
turn them around even though the "friendly" United Front
Government was in power at the Centre. Mr Sikdar claims that
people of the area think there might be an improvement in the
situation if the BJP came to power.
In Malda, he says, BJP candidate Muzaffar Khan had made his
mark as a leader of the minority community and this would
work to his advantage in his contest with Congress veteran
A.B.A. Ghani Khan Choudhury.
According to him Muslims from the Assembly segments of Malda,
English Bazar, Kaliachak and Manikchak were joining the
party's campaign illustrated Mr Khan's growing popularity.
In Royganj, the presence of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)
candidate Gholam Yazdani would "cut into both the Hindu and
Muslim votes of Mr Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi (of the Congress)".
This would benefit the BJP.
The party is drawing the voters' attention to the "failure"
of the Left Front Government in the areas of education and
health administration.
The party has taken up the cause of jute and potato growers
because they have been "ruined" by the state government's
"faulty procurement and marketing strategies". The other
issues to be taken up by the party include the Ganga water
Treaty and infiltration from Bangladesh, and exchange of
enclaves with that country.
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Date: Mon, 2 Feb 1998 22:20:31 -0500
From: editor@ofbjp.org
Subject: Vote for stability without corruption
Date: Feb 3, 1998
Source: The Hindu
'Vote for stability without corruption'
NEW DELHI, Feb. 2.
The BJP leader, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, today said that the
people must vote not only for stability but also for
stability without corruption-an oblique reference to the
Congress(I) claim to a government on the stability card.
Speaking at a public rally here Mr.Vajpayee referred not
only to the ``propaganda'' about differences in the top
leadership of the party, but also to the reasons why his
13-day government fell without being able to garner
support. ``Nobody sees us as untouchables now,'' he
said, and added
He also referred to the developments in Uttar Pradesh
and explained these by saying that ``we did not break
any party, but some left their own homes, and came to
us, and we could not keep our doors closed.'' Referring
to the BJP's experiment with the Bahujan Samaj Party, he
said that the BJP had made the first dalit woman chief
minister, but unfortunately that did not last.
If the people want a change not only of `satta' (power),
but also `yug ka parivartan' (change of an era) they
should vote the BJP and vote in seven MPs from Delhi.
While Mr. Vajpayee did not refer once to Mrs. Sonia
Gandhi, it was left to the Rajasthan Chief Minister, Mr.
Bhairon Singh Shekhawat to say that while in every
village the people want Vajpayee as prime minister, they
go to ``see Sonia'' and ``they say that she is speaking
very much like Indira Gandhi who had decades earlier
promised to abolish poverty.'' He lashed out at those
who had never before entered any village or wiped a tear
from any eye or fed the hungry-the reference was clearly
to Mrs. Gandhi. And it was Mr. Fernandes who demanded
that Mrs. Gandhi should call Mr. Ottavio Quattrocchi
back to India and explain how Bofors kickbacks went into
his account. Let her explain this special ``rishta''
(relationship) between Bofors and Mr. Quattrocchi and
her own family.
The Punjab Chief Minister, Mr. Prakash Singh Badal,
dwelt on the Congress(I) apology for the 1984 riots and
Operation Bluestar and exhorted the people to respond to
the Congress(I)'s ``sorry'' with another ``sorry'' when
the party asks for votes. He said that he was confident
that with Mr. Vajpayee as prime minister, India would
emerge as a strong nation. The Haryana chief Minister,
Mr. Bansilal, gave the BJP full marks for its ability to
``adjust'' with its allies, speaking with three years
experience behind him. He said that the Congress(I) had
run away from a debate on the Jain Commission report as
it would have been completely exposed.
It was a show which was billed as a national event, a
show intended to send a strong signal in favour of the
grand alliance forged by the BJP-the backdrop of the
dais read ``Able Prime Minister, Stable Government''.
But whatever the reasons, it failed to make the desired
impact on the crowd. It was a somewhat defensive Mr.
Vajpayee who addressed the rally. The stadium was full
to capacity when he rose to speak -he was the last
speaker- but well before he finished his 30- minute
speech the people had begun leaving and by the time he
finished the stands were more than half empty.
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End of bjp-l-digest V2 #46
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