Salient points in the speech by
Shri L.K. Advani
Leader of the Opposition (Lok Sabha)

Vijay Sankalp Rally in Vashim

Maharashtra - 01 October, 2008

The Navaratri festival has begun since yesterday. My hearty wishes to all of you.

Tomorrow will be Eid-ul-Fitr. The month of Ramazan will end. I send my festive greetings to all our Muslim sisters and brothers.

Ours is a country that is home to many religious communities. Our national culture enjoins upon us to respect all faiths and treat followers of other faiths as our own brethren.

The joy of Navaratri this year is mixed with the sadness caused by the tragedy in Jodhpur that took place due to stampede in Chamundi Mandir yesterday. Nearly 150 worshippers died. All of us here condole their death.

But the incident of stampede has highlighted an issue that has so far not received adequate attention. Three years ago, more than 300 pilgrims died in a stampede in Kalubai Temple in Satara in Maharashtra. Some months ago, there was a similar tragedy at Nainadevi Temple in Himchal Pradesh. And now Jodhpur.

Mandir mein puja honi chahiye, maatam nahin.

One of the main reasons for these tragedies is that we have not addressed the need for adequate and reliable infrastructure, facilities and safety provisions at the places of pilgrimage in our country. Therefore, if the NDA is elected to power, one of our priorities will be to take up this task on a massive and urgent basis by constituting a NATIONAL BOARD FOR IMPROVING FACILITIES AT ALL IMPORTANT PILGRIMAGE CENTRES.

We would like people also to contribute to this effort. I am sure they will.

Friends, it was indeed the issue of providing adequate and better amenities for the pilgrims going to Amarnath in Kashmir that unfortunately highlighted one of the worst failures of the UPA Government.

Just 100 acres of land. That too for erecting temporary structures. Only for two-three months in a year. For pilgrims who have to trek along a difficult mountainous path. To one of the most revered Hindu centres of pilgrimage.

But look at how the Congress government bungled. It allowed separatists in Kashmir to defy the Indian State in a manner not seen in many years. We should be thankful to the people of Jammu for fighting a long and determined battle for a legitimate cause. Ultimately, the Government was forced to agree to a good compromise. But at what cost to the nation?

Why did the Congress behave like this? It is because its whole approach to national issues has got perverted due to the politics of minorityism.

I am told that some SIMI activists have also been arrested in Washim. This shows that the network of terrorists and their supporters has grown across the country. This is a danger signal.

The Congress and some other parties have developed a vested interest in practising the politics of minorityism. They treat minorities purely as vote-banks. They have no real concern or commitment for their development and welfare.

Sachar Committee

The UPA Government has tom-tommed a lot about the Sachar Committee. But what does the report of the Sachar Committee really show? Who is responsible for the backwardness of a section of Indian Muslims in education, employment, housing, etc? Who, if not those who ruled India – and many of India’s states – for the longest period since Independence?

Therefore, if the Sachar report can be credited with only one good thing, it is that it has served as a mirror to reflect the truth about how successive Congress governments have neglected the very community that has been most loyal to that party.

And if the Congress can treat its most loyal supporters in this manner, one can imagine how it treats others.

The UPA Government has consciously and persistently followed the policy of dividing the Indian people between majority and minority. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh went to the extent of saying that Muslims should have the first claim on the resources of the Government.

I say, “Why only Muslims? Why any religious community for that matter? The right thing to do would be to make the poor and deprived of all communities to have the first claim on the resources of the Government?”

Whatever our political adversaries might say about us, the BJP does not discriminate on the basis of faith, between majority and minority. Indeed, I would like this categorization of Indians between majority and minority to disappear soon.

Terrorism is an issue for both urban and rural people

Friends, I am sometimes told that terrorism is an issue that only people in urban areas are concerned about, and that it does not concern rural people. I think that this attitude, even if only partially true, should change.

Terrorism is a new form of war against India. If there is a war on India, are only urban people concerned? Not at all. The feeling of patriotism surges even among rural people.

Terrorism is a warlike challenge to India’s unity, integrity and security. Therefore, every citizen should understand that only a strong government, guided by a clear perspective and possessing the necessary political will, can fight this menace. Which is why, even in a place like Washim, where a large number of people participating in this rally are farmers, I would like to appeal to one and all:

“Support the BJP and the NDA to form the next government in New Delhi, so that the war against terrorism can be won.”

Plight of farmers in Vidarbha

My dear sisters and brothers, I am in Vidarbha. This is where India is facing a threat of another kind: a grave threat to the economic security of our farmers.

My heart goes to the thousands of distressed farmers in Washim, Yavatmal, Amravati, Akola, Buldhana, Wardha. and other districts of Vidarbha. I had visited the families of some of them when I had come here on my Bharat Suraksha Yatra in 2006.

Why are farmers in Vidarbha driven to this extreme degree of distress, to a point of hopelessness that makes them take out their own lives? The blame lies at the doorstep of the Congress governments, at the Centre and in the state.

There was a time when it used to be said of Indian agriculture – and I am saying it in Marathi: 'Uttam Sheti, Madhyam Vyapar, Kanishth Naukri (Agriculture is the best occupation, business comes next, employment is the most inferior). Sadly, the reality now is 'Uttam Vyapar, Madhyam Naukri, Kanishth Sheti.’ (Business is the best occupation, employment comes next, agriculture is the most inferior.)

Today, starving and debt-ridden farmers stretch out their begging bowls as the more desperate among them give up a losing battle for survival and take the escape route to death. The Prime Minister’s Relief Package has not stopped suicides.

If the idea was to keep the prices of edible oil low for consumers, isn’t it better to enable our own farmers to produce more, process more and earn more, rather than to spend thousands of crores of rupees on imports?

Similarly, if we want cotton growers to have good prices on a sustained basis, isn’t it better for the Government to create more cotton processing units, with modern technology, in Vidarbha itself?

The UPA Government announced a loan waiver scheme for farmers. The amount of Rs. 70,ooo core was trumpeted. But the actual waiver this year is a small amount. The remaining burden will be borne by the next government in Delhi.

Moreover, I am told that the farmers in Vidarbha have not benefited adequately, even though they needed the benefit the most.

What can be more shameful than reports that leaders of the Congress and NCP in Vidarbha misused a scheme of subsidies for buying cows? The scheme was meant for families of those who committed suicide and others living below poverty line. But the subsidy has been pocketed by the relatives of big leaders.

I congratulate Shri Vilas Wankhede, social activist who unearthed information about this “Cow Scam” through RTI. Cow is sacred to our people, especially to farmers. But Congressmen have not hesitated to make money even from a Cow Scheme!

Five Assurances to farmers

Today, on the occasion of this rally, I wish to give five concrete assurances to the farmers of Vidarbha.

1: If voted to power in New Delhi, we shall take every possible step to ensure that the growers of cotton, soybean and other crops get remunerative prices, adjusted to rate of inflation, every year on a sustained basis.

2: We shall formulate a scheme for setting up Processing Units for Cotton, Soybean and other crops grown by farmers in Vidarbha. Farmers will be shareholders in these units.

3: We shall remove power shortage and make load shedding a thing of the past in Vidarbha and the rest of Maharashta.

4: We shall complete all the pending irrigation schemes in Vidarbha on a fast-track basis within 3-4 years. Indeed, the River-Linking Project that the Vajpayee Government had visualized was aimed at meeting both the power and irrigation needs of farmers. The UPA Government has shelved the project. We shall revive it.

5: In view of the rising cost of inputs, our Government shall raise the MSP for paddy to Rs. 1200 per quintal.

In addition to these assurances, I give one more: We shall not tolerate corruption in the implementation of any scheme meant for farmers and other sections of society.

Why this Vijay Sankalp Rally?

Dear sisters and brothers from Vidarbha, Parliamentary elections are not far away. You have a right to ask the Congress and the UPA to show their report card. It will be full of failures and betrayals.

Apart from the failure to address the problems of farmers, apart from its failure to fight terrorism, the UPA Government has also failed miserably to check the skyrocketing prices of all essential goods and services. Every trip to the market has become a tormenting experience for the aam aadmi.

Besides these problems, the government’s faulty policies have resulted in an unprecedented gap between the rich and the poor. There was already a huge scarcity of jobs for the youth. Now, because of the slowing of the economy, jobs have been even more scarce.

All in all, the UPA Government has become a curse. For India to survive, the Congress-led Government must be voted out.

India needs a strong and honest government with a strong and honest leadership to meet the serious challenges it is facing.

India needs, once again, a BJP-led NDA Government.

In Maharashtra, the BJP has an alliance with the Shiv Sena. Our alliance has stood the test of time.

Maharashtra also needs to be freed of the curse of the Congress-led Government in Mumbai. This progressive state has suffered and languished a great deal because of the misrule of the state government. Maharashtra has never seen a more incompetent, corrupt and directionless government in its history.

But the time to change the state government will come later – next year. Right now, I seek your support in bringing about a decisive change at the Centre.

This is our sankalp. This should be your sankalp, too.

Which is why, I have come to Washim as part of my nationwide programme of Vijay Sankalp Rallies.

Thank you.