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Vajpayee launches 'dignified' election campaign

Syed Firdaus Ashraf in Bombay

"The Congress talks of stability. But it was responsible for bringing down three governments," thundered caretaker Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee while addressing his first election rally for the 13th Lok Sabha at Bombay's Shivaji Park this evening.

"Sonia Gandhi went to President K R Narayanan and claimed that she could form the government without having the requisite numbers. In fact, the entire Opposition had no agenda except to bring down the government in the name of secularism," the Bharatiya Janata Party leader said.

"India is by tradition a secular country," he remarked. "Governments may come and go, but secularism is in our culture and tradition," he said to thunderous applause.

Ridiculing the Opposition, he said it knew of no alternative to the BJP-led coalition, but it was too scared of the "good work of our government and that is why they brought it down".

Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray, who was supposed to address the rally with the prime minister, failed to show up because of a sudden bout of illness.

Thus, when Vajpayee stood up to make his speech, ardent Sena supporters began getting restless and demanding to know about Thackeray. Vajpayee then announced that the Sena leader could not attend because of ill-health, to the disappointment of the 100,000 strong crowd of party workers.

Highlighting his government's achievements amidst of much cheering and shouts of Desh ka neta kaisa ho, Atal Bihari jaisa ho, the prime minister said his government tested nuclear weapons at Pokharan, started the bus service to Pakistan, and presented a good Budget. And that was why the entire Opposition united to bring down the government. "They felt that we will win in the coming elections too," he quipped.

"The Opposition parties wanted the election in September because they thought we would sweep the poll if it is held in June. But let me tell them that people's memory is not so short as to forgive the Congress after three months," he cautioned in his characteristic style.

Interestingly, in his 35-minute speech, the prime minister did not once attack Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

But she did not go entirely unscathed. Pramod Mahajan, information and broadcasting minister, went after her hammer and tongs, bringing up the question of her origins.

"How can anybody compare Sonia Gandhi with Vajpayee when she cannot even read properly? She has not even contested a gram panchayat [village council] election. So how can she become prime minister of our country? The only thing she did to the country was that she married Rajiv Gandhi," he said.

Trying to prick the conscience of the predominantly Maharashtrian crowd, Mahajan said neither Mulayam Singh nor Laloo Prasad Yadav nor even the Congress was responsible for bringing down the government. It was the people of Maharashtra who were to blame as they did not vote for the BJP-Sena alliance in the 1998 poll.

"At least you could have elected me. Then this government would have not fallen," the politician quipped, only half in jest. Mahajan, who had contested the Bombay North-East seat in the last general election, was defeated by Congressman Gurudas Kamat by more than 50,000 votes.

The setback in Maharashtra was also the thrust of Chief Minister Narayan Rane's speech. He said that last time the state did not give many seats to the alliance. But this time the combine will definitely improve its tally and win at least 35 Lok Sabha seats, he said.

Vajpayee, however, focussed entirely on the achievements of his government and the relations with Pakistan, in keeping with his exhortation that the election campaign should be dignified. Only towards the fag end of his speech did he mention the election and criticise the Congress party.

He began by referring to the nuclear tests in Pokhran exactly a year ago. "We tested the nukes for self-defence. Today there is no threat to India from any quarter of the world," he declared.

"Even Pakistan knows there is no point in fighting each other because nobody is going to achieve anything out of it. After Pokhran both countries have come closer. If we fight a war, it will finish all of us. So we want both governments to concentrate on development work," he said.

Vajpayee said relatives who had been separated by Partition must be allowed to meet each other and cultural exchanges must take place between the two countries. "I told Nawaz Sharief that we invite many of your ghazal singers. So why don't you invite Lata Mangeshkar to Pakistan?"

Regarding Kashmir, he said latest reports from intelligence agencies say a conspiracy is being hatched to infiltrate terrorists through the border to create disturbances in the country. "But my government is committed to protect the country's borders and ready to make any sacrifice to fulfil this goal," he declared.

He asserted that Kashmiris are fed up with the proxy war. Thousands have died, but nobody has achieved anything. But he claimed that the situation is improving, and said even film companies have begun returning to the state for shooting.

"When I was in Lahore some Kashmiris were killed by militants. I told Nawaz Sharief that we cannot build friendship and trust if such killings take place," he said.

About the Agni missile tests conducted this year, the prime minister said they were important to round off the nuclear weapons programme that was initiated with the tests at Pokhran.

Coming down heavily on the other nuclear powers, he said there must be no discrimination. If there are to be no nuclear weapons in the world, all nuclear powers must destroy their arms. Only then will India also destroy its nuclear weapons. If India does not need nuclear weapons, no one else should need them, he said.

Commenting on the NATO attacks on Serbia, he said, "NATO is bombing Yugoslavia openly and killing thousands of people. It's a question of Yugoslavia's sovereignty. And the United Nations is watching like a mute spectator. Considering such a situation we cannot see our country weakened."

Gopinath Munde, deputy chief minister, said three "villainesses" were responsible for bringing down the government - Sonia Gandhi, J Jayalalitha and Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati. "The Congress could not even form the government after being given 10 days by the President," he said.

Interestingly, several Bollywood actors and personalities were present at the meeting, among them Vinod Khanna, the MP from Gurdaspur in the twelfth Lok Sabha, Jeetendra, Shekhar Suman, Raza Murad, Sujit Kumar, Vijay Anand, Mahesh Kothare and Kiran Shantaram.

Among those on the dais were former chief minister Manohar Joshi, Thackeray's son Uddhav and nephew Raj, and state BJP chief Suryabhan Wahadane.

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