BJP attacks Congress on secularism issue

NEW DELHI: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's "burkha" and "puppy" remarks notwithstanding, BJP today said it wants good governance to be the poll issue and charged the Congress with diverting public attention from its failures by raking up the secularism issue to polarise the electorate.

"Congress is hiding behind the blanket of secularism and wants to clandestinely grab votes," BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain told reporters here.

Asked if the use of the word blanket instead of burkha (veil) as done by Modi is a climbdown by the BJP, Hussain only said now use the term blanket.

However, Hussain batted for Modi and maintained that if the BJP has faced the brickbats since the 2002 Gujarat riots it should also get the applause for no riots taking place in the state since then. "Today there is peace in Gujarat and our political opponents are disturbed by this," Hussain said.

The main opposition charged that 13,000 riots have taken place under Congress rule since independence and insisted that it has no moral right to talk about riots. BJP said it does not believe in wooing a particular community to get votes.

"The vote of every voter is important for the BJP. We do not see voters from the eye of communalism, unlike those who are greedy for votes. We believe in harmony between all religions. It is in BJP's ideology to be concerned about all creatures," Hussain said.

Drawing an analogy, the BJP leader said from an ant to a mountain, the party is concerned about the well being of all. He was quick to add that by ant he does not mean any minority community nor does mountain stand for the majority.

Hussain said corruption, inflation and scams are the issues and BJP will not allow the Congress to divert attention from them by raising the bogey of secularism.

BJP, which is charging Rs 5 per person for a Modi rally to be held in Hyderabad on August 11, also took on the Congress on the issue. "This money will go to the victims of the Uttarakhand floods. It was such a huge tragedy. We are not going to use these funds for political gains," Hussain said.

The party alleged that Congress had failed to provide adequate relief and rehabilitation to the stranded people in the hill state. "Congress has distributed rotten grains with Rahul Gandhi's photos on the carrybags. It has rubbed salt on the wounds of the victims," he said.

BJP dismissed Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh's remarks against the party and its leaders on secularism, saying even his own party does not take him seriously. "He has shifted from Twitter to blog as he has a lot of free time.... He is new to blogging. Blog is for mature people and he lacks that," Hussain said.