Shri Rajnath Singh toured South India for the first time as President of BJP between March 18 and 21. He addressed public meetings, inspired the workers, encouraged and motivated the top leaders to work unitedly as a team.
The visit became important and got maximum publicity because of the fast-approaching assembly elections in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.
Shri Rajnath Singh first went to Andhra Pradesh. In Hyderabad, he announced that party'sNational Executive would endorse the eight-year-old resolution adopted by the Andhra Pradesh unit of BJP at Kakinada session favouring separate statehood for Telengana. Addressing a large gathering of enthusiastic party workers, he said the central committee of BJP is fully positive towards the demand for separate Telengana. ?We want Telengana from the inner core of our heart. The BJP had stuck to its promises of creating Uttaranchal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh within a year of coming to power at the Centre in 1999,? he said.
As similar promises had been made by the Congress on Telengana before 2004 assembly elections, two years have passed but nothing has happened. They have betrayed the people of the region by promising a separate Telengana and backtracking later after getting the electoral mandate. There could not be a bigger fraud on the people than this, he added.
In Pondicherry, there was an impressive gathering of workers. People representing Karaikal, a far-off place from Pondicherry, were also there in good number. Addressing the workers, he said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has no future and it would soon fall due to inner contradictions. Shri Singh said there is a possibility for a snap poll immediately after the election process in the five states?Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Kerala, West Bengal and Assam?is over. The UPA government, besides indulging in divisive politics by appeasing minorities, has failed to control inflation. The current budget paved the way for yet another price rise. Moreover, the UPA is bent upon bringing about another increase in fuel price based on Rangarajan Committee'sreport. The price of essential commodities are poised for another steep hike, he said.
Shri Rajnath Singh further said that along with the price rise, terrorism is also increasing day-by-day. The withdrawal of Pota clearly reveals that UPA government is dealing with the terrorism in a very soft manner. Besides this, Congress is indulging in lowering the dignity of constitutional institutions. Even the Supreme Court had rapped the government on the unconstitutional manner in which the Governors had acted in Jharkhand and Bihar.
He also alleged that the Congress is utterly misusing CBI. The party'sminority appeasement is evident by the reservation provided to Muslims in Aligarh and Hyderabad. But this was duly struck down by the Supreme Court. Further, he noted that such appeasement activities would only divert the youth from nationalism to jehadi propaganda. Shri Rajnath Singh said the BJP yatras have been organised to create an awareness on divisiveness and terrorism.
?The BJP is strongly opposed to any reservation based on religion and it should be based only on social and economic factors. These factors are bound to be weighed by voters during the election and the UPA would suffer a severe setback,? he said.
Then, Shri Singh went to Aurobindo Ashram and paid his respects at the samadhi of rishi Aurobindo.
The Chennai unit of BJP organised a spectacular public meeting in the labour-dominated central Madras. Pulla Reddy Avenue, the meeting place, was fully packed with 12,000 strong people. They were attentive throughout the speeches of Shri C.P. Radhakrishan, state president, Shri L. Ganshen, Shri Rajeev Pratap Rudy, Shri S. Thirunavukharsar and Shri Bandaru Dattatreya. Finally, Shri Rajnath Singh started his speech in Tamil?Anbulla sahodara, Sahodari galey. Then he switched on to Hindi, which was translated into Tamil. He charged the Dravidian parties that despite being in power for many decades, they?the DMK and AIDAMK?have been unable to address the issues of common people including the problem of unemployment.
Kicking off the party'scampaign for assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, Shri Rajnath Singh appealed to the electorate to give on opportunity to BJP so that the state could be brought to mainstream politics.
Recalling the achievements of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime at the Centre, he said the Pokhran nuclear tests had made India the nuclear power and only because of this America accepted our country as a nuclear power and signed an agreement recently.
Strongly condemning the UPA government for pursuing the Muslim appeasement policy keeping in mind the vote-bank politics, he said the Congress is trying to divide the people of the country on the basis of religion.
Then, Shri Rajnath Singh went to Kerala. There was a grand procession in Palakkad. It took almost one-and-a-half-hour to cross a particular point. It was a majestic show of strength of BJP in Kerala. Referring to the Kerala Assembly'sresolution urging the Union government to intervene on ?humanitarian grounds? in the case of Abdul Nasir Madani, he assailed the Congress and the Left for joining hands in this regard. People of this country are shocked and agitated over this issue as it is nothing but perversion in the name of secularism, he said.
