Modi by his side, Advani takes on Govt over terror

New Delhi, September 3: The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, L K Advani, made a rare appearance with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the Capital on Wednesday as the party launched a scathing attack on the Congress-led UPA Government for what they called the latter’s “soft approach on terror”. Claiming that Manmohan Singh’s “biggest failure was on the Terror front”, the party reiterated its demand for a tough anti-terror law, immediate presidential nod to the law on organised crime passed by the Gujarat Assembly, and the execution of Afzal Guru.

“We faced the problem of cross-border terror during the NDA regime. Under this government, home-grown terror has been a major problem. But they didn’t even include terror in their CMP, except that they would repeal POTA. The UPA allies have gone to the extent of supporting the SIMI, giving a fillip to terror agents. We demand a white paper on the SIMI,” Advani said.

“The Gujarat Assembly passed a law on organised crime during the NDA regime. We proposed certain amendments in accordance with Supreme Court directives. The Bill has been lying with them for over four years despite several requests from us,” said Advani.

“It’s strange that Maharashtra can prosecute terrorists under the MCOCA, but we cannot use a similar law to prosecute them only 50 km away. Neither the Union Government nor the Congress has said a word against the SIMI even after the terror arrests,” said Modi. “It’s clear that the Indian Mujahideen (IM) has spread its wings in at least nine states. While the SIMI had the youth under the age of 30 working with them, the IM has no such age restrictions. Some of the arrested misguided youth even share the Taliban worldview,” he added.

While the BJP position on the issue is well known, it was Modi making an appearance alongside Advani at the BJP headquarters that had the party abuzz through the day.

Advani flaunts Gujarat as an example of good governance and, sources say, wants Modi to inherit his legacy. Modi has made it clear that he wants to focus on Gujarat till 2010. “I chose to come here with Modi because we are speaking on terror and his state has made the breakthrough in the blasts. I would have come here with Jaswant Singh or Yashwant Sinha if I had to speak on economic matters,” said Advani.

Modi skirted questions on whether his presence in Delhi signalled his imminent arrival in national political scene.

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