03-23-2007, 09:17 AM
India News
Sons of anti-saffron former PMs rise with BJP's help
By Liz Mathew, New Delhi, March 22: A decade after low profile leaders H.D. Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral found themselves catapulted as prime ministers to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) out of power, the sons of both have manoeuvred themselves into coveted positions with the party's help.
While Gowda's son H.D. Kumaraswamy heads the Janata Dal-Secular-BJP government in Karnataka, Gujral's son Naresh has just been elected to the Rajya Sabha on an Akali Dal-BJP ticket from Punjab.
The ruling Congress dismissed the obvious irony as "opportunism" and "betrayal of ideological commitment", but the BJP termed it as the "end of political untouchability" towards it.
"Anti-communalism is an ideological commitment. Gowda and his son have betrayed it and became opportunists to play power politics," Tejaswini Seeramesh, the Congress MP who defeated Deve Gowda in Kanakapura, told IANS.
"For these leaders, secularism is a garb that they can put on when it is convenient for them. The recent developments have removed their masks and exposed them," the Karnataka MP said.
While Gowda was prime minister from June 1996 to April 1997, Gujral took over from him as head of the United Front government with non-Congress and non-BJP parties coming together to cobble a post-poll alliance to keep 'communal forces' out of power. Congress extended crucial outside support to the governments.
Although former prime minister Gujral refused to comment on his son's election to the Rajya Sabha Tuesday, Naresh Gujral said the Congress party's "secular claims" were "nonsense".
"What the Congress claims is selective secularism. You raised your voice against Gujarat (2002 riots). What about the 1984 Sikh carnage? Was anybody punished for it?" asked Gujral, referring to the anti-Sikh riots in the national capital after the assassination of former prime minister Indira Gandhi.
"If a Shiv Sena or BJP member joins the Congress, they become secular overnight. The Congress party has been asking for votes, saying that the prime minister was a Sikh. Is this secularism? I find it nonsense," Gujral told IANS.
Pointing out that his political leanings did not have anything to do with his father, Gujral said: "I have my own convictions. I like the ideologies of the Akali Dal and I believe it is the best party to protect the interests of Punjab."
Naresh as well as BJP leader Harin Pathak claim that political untouchability is a factor of the past. "Political parties have now realised that it was idiotic to keep the BJP away. Nobody can now ignore a party like the BJP," Pathak said.
"It is highly unfortunate that the BJP had been untouchable for parties like the Congress when they have an alliance with the Indian Union Muslim League," he added.
--- IANS
Sons of anti-saffron former PMs rise with BJP's help
By Liz Mathew, New Delhi, March 22: A decade after low profile leaders H.D. Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral found themselves catapulted as prime ministers to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) out of power, the sons of both have manoeuvred themselves into coveted positions with the party's help.
While Gowda's son H.D. Kumaraswamy heads the Janata Dal-Secular-BJP government in Karnataka, Gujral's son Naresh has just been elected to the Rajya Sabha on an Akali Dal-BJP ticket from Punjab.
The ruling Congress dismissed the obvious irony as "opportunism" and "betrayal of ideological commitment", but the BJP termed it as the "end of political untouchability" towards it.
"Anti-communalism is an ideological commitment. Gowda and his son have betrayed it and became opportunists to play power politics," Tejaswini Seeramesh, the Congress MP who defeated Deve Gowda in Kanakapura, told IANS.
"For these leaders, secularism is a garb that they can put on when it is convenient for them. The recent developments have removed their masks and exposed them," the Karnataka MP said.
While Gowda was prime minister from June 1996 to April 1997, Gujral took over from him as head of the United Front government with non-Congress and non-BJP parties coming together to cobble a post-poll alliance to keep 'communal forces' out of power. Congress extended crucial outside support to the governments.
Although former prime minister Gujral refused to comment on his son's election to the Rajya Sabha Tuesday, Naresh Gujral said the Congress party's "secular claims" were "nonsense".
"What the Congress claims is selective secularism. You raised your voice against Gujarat (2002 riots). What about the 1984 Sikh carnage? Was anybody punished for it?" asked Gujral, referring to the anti-Sikh riots in the national capital after the assassination of former prime minister Indira Gandhi.
"If a Shiv Sena or BJP member joins the Congress, they become secular overnight. The Congress party has been asking for votes, saying that the prime minister was a Sikh. Is this secularism? I find it nonsense," Gujral told IANS.
Pointing out that his political leanings did not have anything to do with his father, Gujral said: "I have my own convictions. I like the ideologies of the Akali Dal and I believe it is the best party to protect the interests of Punjab."
Naresh as well as BJP leader Harin Pathak claim that political untouchability is a factor of the past. "Political parties have now realised that it was idiotic to keep the BJP away. Nobody can now ignore a party like the BJP," Pathak said.
"It is highly unfortunate that the BJP had been untouchable for parties like the Congress when they have an alliance with the Indian Union Muslim League," he added.
--- IANS