NEW DELHI, Mar 13 (UNI): The BJP today said the Government's vote bank policy and not having a clear-cut stand on terrorists issue was responsible for the deteriorating law and order situation in the country.
Initiating a debate on the Demands for Grants under the control of the Ministry of Home Affairs for 2006-07, BJP's Dharmendra Pradhan said in the Lok Sabha that the UPA government had failed on the internal security front.
He said there had been a spate of terrorists incidents in the country, including Delhi.
The twin blasts in Varanasi, in which 17 people had died, should be an eye opener to the government about the prevailing situation.
But the UPA government, pursuing its vote bank politics, was not serious towards such attacks, he said.
Pradhan criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his statement before talks with Hurriyat leaders that the Government could think of giving limited autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir.
Similarly, the same coalition held talks with the naxalites in Andhra Pradesh to further its electoral prospects in the state, he alleged.
He lashed out at the government for trying to bring back IMDT, struck by the Supreme Court, in a different form, keeping in view elections in Assam.
He said the Congress government had been there for the past five years but did nothing to improve the situation in that state.
"The policy of minoritism had not done good to the country," he said, adding that the government's attempts to provide minority status to the Aligarh Muslim University was part of its vote bank policy only.
Madhusuan Mistry (Cong), without referring to L K Advani by name, rebutted his charge about encouraging minorityism, saying, "those doing politics on dead bodies and having Fascist mentality are giving sermons to us." They(BJP men) were of the opinion that the minorities were not the citizens of country, he added.
Mistry criticised Advani for taking out Rath Yatras on the deaths that took place in the Varanasi blasts for politicising the deaths and said he and his party president Rajnath Singh were going on different paths.
The Yatras have commenced with a split, he said, and recalled that the Congress never took out a Rath Yatra following the attack on Parliament to politicise it but rather sided with the then government in the crisis.
He said Advani's Rathyatra would only add to the problems of the police increasing its expenditure and would fan communalism.
He advised Advani not to create a law and order problem through his Rath Yatras.
Suresh Kurup(CPI-M) said it was due to a secular government elected by the people two years ago at the Centre that communal harmony was prevailing the country.
It was to the credit of the Government that in spite of blasts in Varansai, there was no communal flare-up in the country.
Kurup urged the Government to take proper action to check mounting crimes against women, particularly in Delhi.
He also called for introducing Women's Reservation Bill in Parliament and getting it passed.
Mohan Singh(SP) said whenever there was threat to national security it should be faced unitedly by the political parties and the people instead of politicising the issue.
He said foreign powers wanted to destabilise India and, therefore, unity, instead of politicising such matters, was all the more necessary.
Mohan Singh (SP) made a strong case in favour of passing the Adivasi Bill giving rights over tribal lands, at the earliest, to find a solution to the problem of naxalism.
All the state governments, especially those which face threat from naxal activities, should pay special attention to the unemployment problem.
He requested the Home Minister to send a team from his ministry to assess the damages caused by the hailstorm that swept across the northern parts of the country a few days ago.
The affected farmers should be given compensation.
Ram Kripal Yadav (RJD) took a swipe at the BJP for its plan to take out two "rath yatras" by party president Rajnath Singh and his predecessor L K Advani to protest the Varanasi blasts.
"It is not rath yatra...it is a riot yatra," he said, pointing out that the "communal yatra" may incite communal passion and lead to a breakdown of law and order.
He charged the BJP with creating communal tension whenever elections were round the corner.
In this context, he said the twin-yatras were being organised keeping an eye on the forthcoming assembly elections in five states.
A K Krishnaswamy (DMK) suggested that the Centre should have more powers to intervene in the affairs of the states in the event of the state governments misusing powers or not acting properly during a law and order situation.
He said the BJP yatras would only help create a division in the country.
"The Home Ministry should take suitable steps to maintain peace and security in the context of the rath yatras." BSP member Mitrasen Yadav called for removal of disparity in society, besides modernising the police force, as part of the effort to weed out naxalism.
