Hitting back at Lal Kishenchand Advani for levelling charges of incompetence against him, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday asked the Bharatiya Janata Party leader to do some "introspection" over his role when Gujarat was burning and during the Kandahar hijack crisis.
Replying to the debate on the trust vote in the Lok Sabha, he also asked "our friends" in the Left front to ponder over the company they were forced to keep because of the "miscalculations" by "their general secretary", an apparent reference to Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat.
The prime minister tabled his speech after he started to speak amid uproarious scenes and slogan shouting by the opposition who demanded his resignation over the bribery issue.
"Before levelling charges of incompetence on others, Advani should do some introspection. Can our nation forgive a home minister who slept when the terrorists were knocking at the doors of our Parliament?" he asked.
Dr Singh also wanted to know whether the nation can forgive a person who "single handedly provided the inspiration for the destruction of the Babri Masjid with all the terrible consequences that followed."
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Full Text of PM's Speech