UPA policies dangerous: Rajnath

Staff Correspondent

UPA Government has failed on all fronts

AP

BJP president Rajnath Singh holds a sword at the commencement of his yatra in Bhubaneswar on Thursday.

Bhubaneswar: BJP president Rajnath Singh on Thursday said the party would not allow the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government to continue with its policies "aimed at creating a situation that could result in the country’s second Partition."

Launching his `Bharat Suraksha Yatra’ from here, Mr. Singh said the BJP would try to make the people aware of the "dangerous" policies of the Congress, including its policy of `appeasing’ the Muslims, during the five-week `yatra.’

He appealed to the Muslims to `see through’ the Congress attempt to create a divide between the community and Hindus through its `appeasement’ policy. During its over four-decade rule, the party only used the Muslims as its vote-bank.

Mr. Singh’s `yatra’ started one-and-half hour late after he addressed a rally along with senior BJP leaders and Orissa Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal president Naveen Patnaik. The meeting, however, did not draw a good crowd. The few thousands who came could not sit before the podium due to the scorching sun. Many stood under trees on both sides of the Mahatma Gandhi Marg, the venue.

Alleging that the UPA Government had failed on all fronts, he urged the people to take note of the problems they faced after it came to power two years ago. He cited the reservation proposal for Muslims in jobs and educational institutions and the "soft" attitude towards terrorists and extremists, as some of its glaring errors. Terrorists and extremists had become emboldened after the repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, he alleged.

Pointing to the arrest of Bangladeshi nationals for their `hand’ in the recent Varanasi bomb blasts, Mr. Singh said his party would press the demand for deportation of illegal Bangadeshi migrants.

Highlighting the "pro-people" work done by the National Democratic Alliance Government during its six-year-rule under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he criticised the Centre for its "failure" to check the rise in prices of essential commodities. It had also failed to provide any relief to farmers.

BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu, said the UPA was "sleeping when the people are weeping." The party will make the people aware of the UPA’s `wrong policies’.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda and his Chhattisgarh counterpart Raman Singh, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi and party general secretary Vinay Katiyar spoke.