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Vajpayee govt`s days are numbered: Sonia
New Delhi, Aug 18: In a scathing attack on the Vajpayee government, Congress president Sonia Gandhi today said its days were numbered as its rule was marred by all-round failure, jeopardising country`s defence, denigrating key institutions of parliamentary democracy and mounting corruption.
New Delhi, Aug 18: In a scathing attack on the Vajpayee government, Congress president Sonia Gandhi today said its days were numbered as its rule was marred by all-round failure, jeopardising country's defence, denigrating key institutions of parliamentary democracy and mounting corruption.
Gandhi, who moved a no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha against the Vajpayee government, dubbed the NDA as "incompetent, insensitive, irresponsible and brazenly corrupt" during her one-hour speech.
Facing frequent interruptions and tongue-in-cheek remarks from the treasury benches in a packed house, Gandhi held the government squarely responsible for "blatantly undermining the independence of our foreign policy".
She asked the Prime Minister why his government was "impeding" the functioning of the PAC by refusing to give it access to the CVC report "which has examined some transactions relating to Operation Vijay".
Gandhi, who is also Leader of the Opposition, made it clear at the outset that she was not proposing the motion for "partisan reasons because parties are not important, nor are numbers of any consequence."
She was apparently referring to the outcome of the no-confidence motion being a foregone conclusion since the NDA was way ahead in the numbers game.
"Our indictment is comprehensive, just as their failures are complete," the Congress president said adding the no-trust motion was borne out of a "genuine disquiet over the capricious way in which this government is conducting the business of governance".
"There is an inherent danger in this kind of arrogant governance. It is a danger to basic tenets of Constitution."
In an obvious attack on Defence Minister George Fernandes, who is in the eye of the storm over the PAC-CVC issue, Gandhi said there was "obviously something terribly wrong with our defence."
She dubbed as an "inexcusable lapse" an amount of RS 24,000 crore allocated for defence modernisation remaining unspent which was around 30 per cent of budgeted amount.
Gandhi made occasional jibes at Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and other ministers including Sushma Swaraj.
She said Advani had promised a White Paper on ISI activities in India but four years later nothing was heard.
Tracing various controversies and scams that surfaced during the four-year rule of the Vajpayee government, Gandhi sought to embarrass it on the Gujarat riots, Taj corridor scandal, stock market and UTI scams and "systematic attempts to derail the inquiry" into the Tehelka expose.
Gandhi quoted from the Subramanyam committee report that the Kargil intrusion had come as a complete and total surprise to the Indian government, army and intelligence agencies as well as to the Jammu and Kashmir government and its agencies and said the demand for discussion on the report had fallen on deaf ears.
"That the lessons of Kargil have not been learnt is evident from the outrage of Hill Kaka near Jammu. Not only this, several hundred terrorists had a clear run over a large area for an astonishing length of time."
She said thanks to the CAG, the country now knows how this government permitted corruption in the purchase of coffins meant for Kargil martyrs.
"Pehle, aap ne khub sarp ko ghusne diya, phir vinash ki sochi (first, you allowed the snake to enter, then you thought of destroying it)," she said in apparent reference to the Operation Sarpavinash.
Gandhi accused the NDA of "playing with fire" in the northeast and said elections in Nagaland were held "under threats to the people".
Referring to Arunachal Pradesh, she said efforts to topple democratically-elected governments were being systematically made. "The recent changes in Arunachal politics have been mainly possible because of hectic backdoor support of the BJP leaders."
Taking a dig at the BJP-led coalition on the women's reservation issue, Gandhi said it was now more than clear that the government has no intention whatsoever in getting the bill passed.
"If it had, it could have done so with our support any day. A government that wilfully destroys national consensus in every other area suddenly discovers the virtues of a consensus on this issue. This is simply a pretext for inaction. All of us women know it. Sushmaji don't you agree?"
Gandhi's remark caused laughter in the House and the Parliamentary Affairs Minister putting the ball in the Opposition court said opponents of the bill-- Laloo Prasad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav-- were on the other side.
Recalling government's claim of a "paradigm shift" in bilateral ties with the US, she said if indeed there has been such a shift then no benefits seemed to have accrued to India.
She asked the Prime Minister to spell out India's stand on the presence of Nato forces in Afghanistan saying it was an unprecedented development and had profound significance.
Bureau Report
Gandhi, who moved a no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha against the Vajpayee government, dubbed the NDA as "incompetent, insensitive, irresponsible and brazenly corrupt" during her one-hour speech.
Facing frequent interruptions and tongue-in-cheek remarks from the treasury benches in a packed house, Gandhi held the government squarely responsible for "blatantly undermining the independence of our foreign policy".
She asked the Prime Minister why his government was "impeding" the functioning of the PAC by refusing to give it access to the CVC report "which has examined some transactions relating to Operation Vijay".
Gandhi, who is also Leader of the Opposition, made it clear at the outset that she was not proposing the motion for "partisan reasons because parties are not important, nor are numbers of any consequence."
She was apparently referring to the outcome of the no-confidence motion being a foregone conclusion since the NDA was way ahead in the numbers game.
"Our indictment is comprehensive, just as their failures are complete," the Congress president said adding the no-trust motion was borne out of a "genuine disquiet over the capricious way in which this government is conducting the business of governance".
"There is an inherent danger in this kind of arrogant governance. It is a danger to basic tenets of Constitution."
In an obvious attack on Defence Minister George Fernandes, who is in the eye of the storm over the PAC-CVC issue, Gandhi said there was "obviously something terribly wrong with our defence."
She dubbed as an "inexcusable lapse" an amount of RS 24,000 crore allocated for defence modernisation remaining unspent which was around 30 per cent of budgeted amount.
Gandhi made occasional jibes at Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and other ministers including Sushma Swaraj.
She said Advani had promised a White Paper on ISI activities in India but four years later nothing was heard.
Tracing various controversies and scams that surfaced during the four-year rule of the Vajpayee government, Gandhi sought to embarrass it on the Gujarat riots, Taj corridor scandal, stock market and UTI scams and "systematic attempts to derail the inquiry" into the Tehelka expose.
Gandhi quoted from the Subramanyam committee report that the Kargil intrusion had come as a complete and total surprise to the Indian government, army and intelligence agencies as well as to the Jammu and Kashmir government and its agencies and said the demand for discussion on the report had fallen on deaf ears.
"That the lessons of Kargil have not been learnt is evident from the outrage of Hill Kaka near Jammu. Not only this, several hundred terrorists had a clear run over a large area for an astonishing length of time."
She said thanks to the CAG, the country now knows how this government permitted corruption in the purchase of coffins meant for Kargil martyrs.
"Pehle, aap ne khub sarp ko ghusne diya, phir vinash ki sochi (first, you allowed the snake to enter, then you thought of destroying it)," she said in apparent reference to the Operation Sarpavinash.
Gandhi accused the NDA of "playing with fire" in the northeast and said elections in Nagaland were held "under threats to the people".
Referring to Arunachal Pradesh, she said efforts to topple democratically-elected governments were being systematically made. "The recent changes in Arunachal politics have been mainly possible because of hectic backdoor support of the BJP leaders."
Taking a dig at the BJP-led coalition on the women's reservation issue, Gandhi said it was now more than clear that the government has no intention whatsoever in getting the bill passed.
"If it had, it could have done so with our support any day. A government that wilfully destroys national consensus in every other area suddenly discovers the virtues of a consensus on this issue. This is simply a pretext for inaction. All of us women know it. Sushmaji don't you agree?"
Gandhi's remark caused laughter in the House and the Parliamentary Affairs Minister putting the ball in the Opposition court said opponents of the bill-- Laloo Prasad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav-- were on the other side.
Recalling government's claim of a "paradigm shift" in bilateral ties with the US, she said if indeed there has been such a shift then no benefits seemed to have accrued to India.
She asked the Prime Minister to spell out India's stand on the presence of Nato forces in Afghanistan saying it was an unprecedented development and had profound significance.
Bureau Report