10-03-2005, 08:30 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Advani wants White Paper on Red money </b>
Yogesh Vajpeyi / New Delhi -Pioneer
*Also look at CIA, ISI funds, * Blasts guilty silence of UPA Govt------ In a bid to put the Congress-led UPA Government supported by Left parties on the mat over the Mitrokhin Archives II exposures, the BJP on Sunday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to come out with a White Paper on "foreign funds pumped into India since Independence to pollute itspolitics."Â Â
And the party doesn't want the White Paper to be confined to the KGB, whose ex-agent Mitrokhin has revealed that the Congress and the Communist parties were regular recipients of Soviet slush money during Indira Gandhi's heyday.
"It must cover all foreign sources, including the CIA and ISI," BJP president LK Advani told mediapersons.
Mr Advani reiterated the party's demand for a probe into the Mitrokhin revelations by a sitting Supreme Court judge. "It is the biggest scandal of Indian politics since Independence and the UPA Government has a responsibility to come clean," he said.
But the BJP leader was quick to point out that the issues raised by these revelations went well beyond individuals or even parties. "Some of the charges made are such that the reputation of the entire country gets sullies in the process," he maintained.
Addressing a Press conference, Mr Advani referred to some of the glaring examples cited in the Mitrokhin expose. <b>"According to it the KGB pumped over £10 million to support Indira Gandhi and undermine her opponents during the 1975 Emergency; it subsidised elections of 21 non-Communist politicians, including four ministers in 1977; 10 out of 30 agents it had in India in 1978 were Indian intelligence officers," he said.</b>
Citing the ex-KGB spy's claim that by 1973, ten leading Indian newspapers and one leading wire service were on Soviet pay roll, Mr Advani said, "This must be fully investigated since the freedom of speech is at stake." In the face of such grievous charges, the posture of<b> "total reticence or blatant evasion" adopted by the two key UPA constituents virtually amounted to an admission of guilt, Mr Advani argued.</b>
"It will be less than honest and far from convincing to sidetrack these allegations as having been fabricated by an individual or any conspiring power," he said, pointing out that Cambridge scholar Christopher Andrew who compiled the Mitrokhin Archives had an impeccable reputation for integrity.
The tone and tenor of the BJP leader made it clear that if the Congress and its Communist allies thought they could let the sleeping dogs lie by prevaricating on the issue, the party is all set to prove them wrong.
"Unless our demands are conceded, we will agitate the issue vigorously in and out of Parliament," he warned the ruling alliance.
Releasing a letter he, along with former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh had written to the Prime Minister on September 23, Mr Advani urged the PM to make a detailed statement on the issue without further delay.
The BJP leader said revelations about the Communists being on Moscow's pay roll should not come as a surprise to anyone except the uninitiated.
He reminded that the Communist Party of India was just the Indian chapter of the Communist International, controlled directly from Moscow.
"No wonder that it collaborated with the British during the Quit India Movement of 1942, Even after Independence, in 1962, it had no qualms justifying the Chinese invasion," he added.
While the BJP leader seemed to enjoy taking pot shots at the Left, it was the Congress establishment led by Sonia Gandhi that was his primary target.
In this context he referred in detail to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act passed by the Congress Government in the '70's, which banned acceptance of foreign funds by government officials, politicians and political parties and even the media without the government's permission.
"The law bans them from accepting even hospitality from any foreign country. Was this not a monstrous fraud on democracy that at a point of time when an ordinary newsman or a naïve member of a legislative assembly could become subject to severe penalties if he was to accept an invitation to visit a foreign country, those in the Government were accepting crores and crores without any hesitation?" he asked.
Training his guns against the Sonia Congress establishment, the BJP leader sought to distinguish Manmohan Singh personally from the lot.
"Their silence is understandable. The country, however, hopes that the Prime Minister will respond boldly to our plea and clinch the issue," Mr Advani said.
He praised Mr Singh's "courage" in apologising to the nation for the '84 riots in the last session of Parliament.
"He personally had nothing to do with those crimes. The situation is very similar today," the BJP leader noted.
Almost egging him to act boldly and without caring for repercussions from Sonia's Congress, Mr Advani said that If Mr Singh announced that the Government will come out with a White Paper and set up a judicial inquiry, he would be the two-fold cause of patriotism and integrity in public life.
"And he would simultaneously redeem the country of the stigma that may stick to us because of these exposures," the BJP president concluded.
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Yogesh Vajpeyi / New Delhi -Pioneer
*Also look at CIA, ISI funds, * Blasts guilty silence of UPA Govt------ In a bid to put the Congress-led UPA Government supported by Left parties on the mat over the Mitrokhin Archives II exposures, the BJP on Sunday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to come out with a White Paper on "foreign funds pumped into India since Independence to pollute itspolitics."Â Â
And the party doesn't want the White Paper to be confined to the KGB, whose ex-agent Mitrokhin has revealed that the Congress and the Communist parties were regular recipients of Soviet slush money during Indira Gandhi's heyday.
"It must cover all foreign sources, including the CIA and ISI," BJP president LK Advani told mediapersons.
Mr Advani reiterated the party's demand for a probe into the Mitrokhin revelations by a sitting Supreme Court judge. "It is the biggest scandal of Indian politics since Independence and the UPA Government has a responsibility to come clean," he said.
But the BJP leader was quick to point out that the issues raised by these revelations went well beyond individuals or even parties. "Some of the charges made are such that the reputation of the entire country gets sullies in the process," he maintained.
Addressing a Press conference, Mr Advani referred to some of the glaring examples cited in the Mitrokhin expose. <b>"According to it the KGB pumped over £10 million to support Indira Gandhi and undermine her opponents during the 1975 Emergency; it subsidised elections of 21 non-Communist politicians, including four ministers in 1977; 10 out of 30 agents it had in India in 1978 were Indian intelligence officers," he said.</b>
Citing the ex-KGB spy's claim that by 1973, ten leading Indian newspapers and one leading wire service were on Soviet pay roll, Mr Advani said, "This must be fully investigated since the freedom of speech is at stake." In the face of such grievous charges, the posture of<b> "total reticence or blatant evasion" adopted by the two key UPA constituents virtually amounted to an admission of guilt, Mr Advani argued.</b>
"It will be less than honest and far from convincing to sidetrack these allegations as having been fabricated by an individual or any conspiring power," he said, pointing out that Cambridge scholar Christopher Andrew who compiled the Mitrokhin Archives had an impeccable reputation for integrity.
The tone and tenor of the BJP leader made it clear that if the Congress and its Communist allies thought they could let the sleeping dogs lie by prevaricating on the issue, the party is all set to prove them wrong.
"Unless our demands are conceded, we will agitate the issue vigorously in and out of Parliament," he warned the ruling alliance.
Releasing a letter he, along with former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh had written to the Prime Minister on September 23, Mr Advani urged the PM to make a detailed statement on the issue without further delay.
The BJP leader said revelations about the Communists being on Moscow's pay roll should not come as a surprise to anyone except the uninitiated.
He reminded that the Communist Party of India was just the Indian chapter of the Communist International, controlled directly from Moscow.
"No wonder that it collaborated with the British during the Quit India Movement of 1942, Even after Independence, in 1962, it had no qualms justifying the Chinese invasion," he added.
While the BJP leader seemed to enjoy taking pot shots at the Left, it was the Congress establishment led by Sonia Gandhi that was his primary target.
In this context he referred in detail to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act passed by the Congress Government in the '70's, which banned acceptance of foreign funds by government officials, politicians and political parties and even the media without the government's permission.
"The law bans them from accepting even hospitality from any foreign country. Was this not a monstrous fraud on democracy that at a point of time when an ordinary newsman or a naïve member of a legislative assembly could become subject to severe penalties if he was to accept an invitation to visit a foreign country, those in the Government were accepting crores and crores without any hesitation?" he asked.
Training his guns against the Sonia Congress establishment, the BJP leader sought to distinguish Manmohan Singh personally from the lot.
"Their silence is understandable. The country, however, hopes that the Prime Minister will respond boldly to our plea and clinch the issue," Mr Advani said.
He praised Mr Singh's "courage" in apologising to the nation for the '84 riots in the last session of Parliament.
"He personally had nothing to do with those crimes. The situation is very similar today," the BJP leader noted.
Almost egging him to act boldly and without caring for repercussions from Sonia's Congress, Mr Advani said that If Mr Singh announced that the Government will come out with a White Paper and set up a judicial inquiry, he would be the two-fold cause of patriotism and integrity in public life.
"And he would simultaneously redeem the country of the stigma that may stick to us because of these exposures," the BJP president concluded.
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