M A I N   N E W S

Vajpayee, Advani court arrest
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 1
On the opening day of winter session of Parliament, several BJP activists led by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and BJP president L.K. Advani today courted arrest in protest against the rising inflation under the Congress-led UPA government.

In a rally held earlier, the party criticised the government for compromising with the national security and accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of financial mismanagement, leading to price escalation and putting avoidable burden on the common man.

“This government has no economic policy and is unable to take any decision. It does not know what shape is to be given to the country’s future,” Mr Vajpayee said addressing a rally at the Ramlila Maidan here, prior to the march.

The former Prime Minister said the common man was at the receiving end due to the “instability in the market and frequent changes in government decisions”.

Taking a dig at Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who had pooh-poohed his government’s plans to achieve a growth rate of 8 per cent as ‘Mungeri Lal’s beautiful dreams’, he said: “We only see those dreams that we can realise.”

Mr Advani said: “In the past six months, the country’s pace of development has been decelerated and people’s self-respect shattered.”

The Vajpayee government’s efforts to reach drinking water, education and health to all now remained a distant dream under the present regime, he said.

Mr Advani criticised the imposition of service tax on every item and alleged that it was due to the government’s financial mismanagement.

Lambasting the government for initiating talks with insurgents in the North-East and Andhra Pradesh and softening its stand against the ULFA, he accused the government of compromising the country’s security for electoral benefits.

Shouting slogans, protesters followed their leaders towards Ambedkar Stadium after the BJP rally at the Ramlila Grounds, a short distance away. The police and RAF personnel had a tough time controlling the crowd.

BJP’s demand for debate on seer issue rejected
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 1
The BJP’s demand to seek a structured debate on the Shankaracharya issue in the Rajya Sabha was rejected by the government on the plea that it was a sub judice matter and fell within the purview of the Tamil Nadu Government.

However, the Rajya Sabha’s business advisory committee meeting today decided that the BJP would instead raise the matter as a special mention tomorrow soon after the question hour. Congress leaders, including Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, cautioned the Opposition that it should approach the subject carefully given its sensitivity.

The meeting, however, witnessed heated exchanges between the BJP and its ally, the AIADMK which raised objections to any discussion or mention of the Shankaracharya arrest in the House since it concerned the state.

Congress member Anand Sharma said the House would be setting a bad precedent if a discussion on a sub judice matter was allowed. There was also the question as to who would reply to such a debate since the Centre had stated that the action was taken by the Tamil Nadu Government and that it was not involved in this issue.

This provoked a member to remark that, in such a case, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa would have to be granted temporary membership of the House for two hours.

CPM leader Nilotpal Basu maintained that if the Shankaracharya arrest was debated, he would seek a discussion on the BJP leader’s recent statement that the BJP had the divine right to rule. The reference was to BJP President L.K. Advani’s recent statement to this effect.

Despite these differences, it was agreed that the Rajya Sabha would have discussions on price rise, foreign policy, internal security, suicides by farmers and a separate debate on hike in prices of petroleum products.

These issues, along with unemployment and education policy, would also be debated in the Lok Sabha next week. The Lok Sabha’s business advisory committee, which also met today, finalised the agenda.

Unlike the Rajya Sabha meeting, the Opposition did not demand a discussion on the Shankaracharya issue or the Paswan-Laloo Prasad Yadav spat in the Lok Sabha.