NEW DELHI, Jan 25: Calling the Congress election manifesto with its apology for the Babri mosque demolition a ``document of desperation,'' the BJP today wondered why the party had not expressed regrets for its other ``sins.''Bharatiya Janata Party vice president Madan Lal Khurana contrasted Congress denial of a party ticket to former prime minister PV Narasimha Rao over the Ayodhya demolition with its decision to take back HKL Bhagat despite his being charge-sheeted in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Welcoming Bhagat back into the party-fold, Khurana said, amounted to ``rubbing salt in the wounds of the Sikhs.''
Khurana's remarks indicated that with the Congress apology over Ayodhya, the BJP had found a new campaign point when it goes electioneering in constituencies where Sikh votes matter.
He said if the Congress was so much concerned about the minorities why hadn't it offered an apology for the killing of the Sikhs when Rajiv Gandhi took over from Indira Gandhi after her assassination.
Khurana also referred to Gandhi's remark then that whenever a big tree fell, the earth shook - which many charged was his ``justification'' for the riots.
``Why isn't the Congress offering an apology for the massacre of Sikhs under Rajiv Gandhi, '' Khurana said. He added that while there was just a ``structure'' which was brought down in Ayodhya, Sikhs were burnt alive.
Another BJP leader, M Venkaiah Naidu, said the Congress was now a ``self-confessed sinner'' after denouncing its own government led by Narasimha Rao.
But it had not apologised for the ``economic mess'' the country has been landed in or for the ``destruction of democratic institutions, particularly during the Emergency'', he said.
It had also not offered any apology for its ``involvement'' in cases of corruption, he added singling out the Bofors episode.
Meanwhile, the BJP reported more new entrants today. Rajya Sabha member D Venkateswara Rao and Lal Bahadur Shastri's son Sunil Shastri joined the party. So did the former Indian
hockey captain Ajit Pal Singh.
Rao, the elder son-in-law of N T Rama Rao, broke away from the Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP). The two were presented to the media by LK Advani and Atal Behari Vajpayee.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
