BJP thinks beyond UP, to target UPA security slip

NEW DELHI, APRIL 4: Driving against the UPA’s approach to internal security with the Uttar Pradesh elections in mind and a long-term plan for the next general elections, the BJP has drawn up a strategy that will systematically target the Manmohan Singh Government on two fronts: that it is dictated by the United States on crucial issues of internal security and foreign policy and it is soft on terrorism.

With an eye on the polls, this is expected to serve a two fold political objective. The Congress’ obvious plans to court Muslims with its “minority appeasement” policy could be put in disarray by successfully portraying the UPA as subservient to the United States. On the other hand, with terrorist attacks taking place over a wider area, middle class voters could be turned against the UPA if it was shown as being soft on Terror rather than having “zero tolerance” on the issue, leading to the BJP’s own urban consolidation.

As party leader Venkaiah Naidu points out, the government clearly has an agenda while trying to give special minority status to Aligarh Muslim University, setting up the Sachar Committee and announcing that minorities, especially Muslims, have the first right to resources.

Keen to bolster the view that the BJP alone has a comprehensive policy-oriented approach to internal security, the party’s campaign will show how on Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir and the Indo-US nuclear deal, the UPA government is dictated by the United States. On Ulfa and Naxalite violence, on the other hand, it will highlight how it is guided by political calculations and, in fact, does not even realise how serious the situation is. In sum, the BJP’s campaign will convey that when it comes to internal security, the UPA government does not inspire confidence and is guided by anything but national interest, making it dangerous and unreliable.

Says Leader of the Opposition and party stalwart L.K. Advani, “We will go to the people and tell them that all sorts of compromises are being made with Pakistan under pressure from the United States.”

The proposal to have a joint mechanism on terror with Pakistan, which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced in Havana during the Non-Aligned Meet, is according to the party an illustration of how the United States is leaning on India to accommodate Pakistan.

The issue also is of showing that the government was intent on dealing with the crisis, and the POTA law was one such way of demonstrating that. As BJP president Rajnath Singh says, there was always a need for a law against terrorism, but after doing away with POTA, the government did not make an alternative legislation.

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