Digvijay asks Modi not to play politics on Food Security Bill

Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh asked Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to stop playing politics over the United Progressive Alliance government's food security programme.

Reacting to Modi's criticism of the Food Security Ordinance, Digvijay said it is "intended merely to ensure that food reached the poor." "This was the main purpose of the ordinance and it would be good if Modi does not do any politics on it," the Congress leader told reporters at the Raja Bhoj Airport in Bhopal before going to New Delhi.

Attacking the UPA government over issuing the ordinance in a hurry, Modi had said on Sunday, "People are not getting two square meals a day. So, they have brought a law, irrespective of whether it is possible or not to give food to poor...to give the people a piece of paper containing a law that they will get food as a matter of right." He also accused the Congress of hiding behind a veil of secularism to cover its failures.

However, Digvijay said while his party's definition of secularism was very clear, but that of the Bharatiya Janata Party continued to be ambiguous. "Under the Congress definition, secularism means one religion, one country and one culture but we do not know what exactly is the BJP's definition of it," he said.

Singh said the BJP veteran L K Advani's definition of secularism did not tally with that of the Sangh Parivar.   He said religion should not have any place in politics and it should never be used for garnering votes.

To a question regarding a picture of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan recently clicked with yoga guru Baba Ramdev, Singh alleged that Ramdev had a fake degree, he was using fake medicines for curing people and was under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation for the murder of his own guru Shanker Dev. "Under such circumstances, Chouhan has demeaned himself by allowing himself to be seen with Baba Ramdev," he said.