Patna, June 13 (IANS) Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani Sunday criticised the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government on corruption, its tackling of the Maoist menace and the ‘crippling federal structure’ of the country.
In his speech on the closing day of the party’s two-day national executive meet, he said: ‘The Maoist menace, the UPA-II government’s disappointing performance and how the centre is crippling the federal structure of this country are issues that need to be addresssed.’
‘According to Transparency International’s annual report on corruption, India is listed as one of the most corrupt nations of the world,’ he added.
He also criticised the government for not adequately attending to the requirement of proper infrastructure along the border with China.
He also congratulated a BJP delegation that was tasked with submitting a report on the situation of the border with China, saying that no parliamentarian or party worker has so far attempted this at a height of 19,000 feet.
Paying tribute to Jan Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, he said: ‘Had Shyama Prasad Mukherjee had not died in the Srinagar Jail, there would have been no tricolour flying in Jammu and Kashmir, neither would any devotee be visiting the Vaishnodevi temple.’
The Jan Sangh was the BJP’s parent party.
Highlighting the Jan Sangh’s role during the emergency, Advani said: ‘The Jan Sangh also played a big role in the days of emergency from 1975-76 opposing the tyrannical rule of the then government and its obvious results were reflected in the 1977 elections.’
The Congress, which had ruled uninterrupted from the time India gained independence in 1947, was swept from power by the Janata Party in the 1977 general elections.
Praising the governments of the BJP-ruled states, Advani said they are ‘working for the welfare of the people with full honesty’.
