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Sheela Bhatt and Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi
"They say this is a war. We accept the challenge. We are in the battlefield."
So saying, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Sunday took the fight to the Opposition. "I am in power not because of them but because of the people," he said.
Addressing a National Democratic Alliance rally attended by more than 100,000 people at the Ramlila Grounds in the capital, Vajpayee said, "We will take the challenge to every street in the country."
Underscoring that his government was experimental in nature, he said it had provided stability for the last three years, something the Opposition, notably the Congress, could not tolerate.
Vajpayee's speech, which lasted 15 minutes, deftly skirted the issue of former Bharatiya Janata Party president Bangaru Laxman and the prime minister's controversial principal secretary Brajesh Mishra.
But despite the sizeable crowd, the NDA rally lacked the punch and lustre usually associated with such meetings.
Vajpayee's speech focussed on two issues -- the Congress party's stubborn approach in stalling parliamentary proceedings and party chief Sonia Gandhi's derogatory reference to him and his Cabinet colleagues at the Bangalore plenary of the All-India Congress Committee.
Pointing out that he has been a Member of Parliament since 1957 and had "dedicated my life to the service of the nation", Vajpayee remarked, "I am not even ready to use the Congress terminology." He said the NDA was wedded to patriotism and not to power as the Opposition was alleging.
He expressed regret that Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had "stooped to using unparliamentary language", calling him and his Cabinet colleagues traitors.
He reminded the people that it was the Congress that had declared Emergency in 1975 to stick to power, but the people had finally evicted Indira Gandhi's government.
Vajpayee wondered why the Congress was unable to stomach the NDA government remaining in power. Was it jealousy, he asked, to loud cheers from people waving the flags of the various NDA constituents.
Referring to the Congress party's strategy of taking the tehelka.com scandal to every street in the country, he said, "Sonia Gandhi says she wants to come down to the streets. I am pained to hear this. Even we have opposed the government, but we wanted inquiry and debate. The Congress does not believe in facts and electoral arithmetic. It believes in rowdyism."
The prime minister said that having failed in driving a wedge among the NDA partners, the Congress had become desperate to see the alliance out of power. This was why it had resorted to stalling Parliament and ensuring that there was chaos countrywide on the tehelka.com scandal.
The rest of Vajpayee's speech was a reiteration of the statements of various NDA politicians who said they would never allow the Opposition's "conspiracy against the government" to succeed. They said the government would not resign, but would seek justice in the people's court.
Union Home Minister lal Kishenchand Advani mentioned the Kumbh Mela at Allahabad in January-February and the government's Kashmir policy as its recent achievements. He emphasised that "national security and the probity" of the NDA government were beyond doubt.
"Humara man saaf aur acharan saaf hai (our conscience is clear and our practices are above board)," he said, referring to the Tehelka tapes.
Periodic slogans of "Atal Bihari zindabad" and "Jo humse takrayega, choor choor ho jayega" rent the air. The crowds were mostly drawn from neighbouring Haryana and Rajasthan.
The parties represented at the rally included the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Shiromani Akali Dal, the Indian National Lok Dal, Samata Party and Shiv Sena.
A notable absentee was the Telugu Desam Party of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu, which with its 29 MPs in the Lok Sabha is supporting the government from outside.
Among the various placards put up by the organisers was one that read: Seedhi sacchi baat hai, desh Atal Bihari ke saath hai [the plain truth is that the country is with Atal Bihari].
Another read: Saanch ko aanch nahin aati, nirdosh ko jaanch nahin daraati [truth cannot be tarnished; the innocent are not afraid of inquiry].
Arrest the agents of Bofors, another placard read.
Given the fact that a large section of the crowd was from Haryana, that state's chief minister Om Prakash Chautala received a prolonged ovation from the crowd.
Chautala ridiculed the Congress stance of making morality an issue against the Vajpayee government. "Has the Congress forgotten its own defence deals involving corruption, including the Centurion tank deal, HDW submarine deal, Czech pistol deal and Bofors deal?" he asked, amidst loud cheers from the crowd.
He maintained that Vajpayee's government would not resign but would fight it out among the people, who he said were the final judges.
His views were echoed by Home Minister Advani and NDA convenor George Fernandes.
MDMK leader Vaiko lashed out at the Congress for allegedly provoking tehelka.com to publish its tapes. "Congress means corruption coupled with conspiracy," Vaiko said, adding that it was the Vajpayee government that had prevented the Hindujas (allegedly involved in the Bofors deal) from leaving the country.
Vaiko alleged that "the Italian Mafia is here to destabilise the country".
Fernandes, who had to resign following tehelka.com's expose, spoke of his "commitment" to the nation. "I have been in politics for the last 52 years. I have been elected to Parliament eight times, and three times I have served as minister. Never before has anybody made allegations of corruption against me," he protested, adding, "Now, those who make money out of deals are trying to gives us lessons in honesty."
Fernandes was at pains to explain his position. He said, "I don't even have household things with me. My residence is like an open house. Now they are saying that even the ISI can access it. I don't keep any security in my residence because even my life is available for the country's service," he claimed.
He said he and his NDA colleagues knew all the places the Congress had helped the ISI penetrate.
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