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RSS ideologue blasts Vajpayee; PM is petty says Dattopant Thengdi

In an extraordinary attack, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideologue and Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh founder president Dattopant Thengdi has described Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as a "petty politician playing into the hands of his policy advisers with doubtful credentials."

Speaking at the 12th BMS national convention in Nagpur, he said previous governments had blindly followed globalisation policies on the dictates of the Western powers. It was hoped that the Vajpayee government would be different, but it had belied the expectations of nationalist forces on the economic front.

This is the second time Thengdi has chosen to lash out at Vajpayee publicly.

Thengdi alleged that Vajpayee is surrounded by "self-serving" advisors who are doing the bidding of vested interests just as Jawaharlal Nehru was surrounded by people like V K Krishna Menon. He said many top bureaucrats advising Vajpayee on crucial issues are from past regimes and have their own agendas.

The BMS leader, who belongs to the Swadeshi Jagran Manch lobby in the Sangh Parivar, said the Vajpayee government had let down the nation by giving up the swadeshi agenda. It is, he said, not a question of which party is in power and who the prime minister is. "National interests should be protected by all, irrespective of party affiliations," he remarked.

He, however, praised the Vajpayee government for the steps taken to strengthen national security. The central government had shown exemplary courage in carrying out the nuclear tests, Thengdi said.

UNI

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