But Congress maliciously twists his remarks
It is unfortunate that the Congress has stooped to petty levels to convolute Bharatiya Janata Party veteran lK Advani's remark on the need to unitedly celebrate and appreciate every Indian on the auspicious occasion of Independence Day. Mr Advani's comment of August 15 was bipartisan and had the maturity which is expected of a leader of his stature, not just within the BJP but in the country's political system as well. However, the Congress let its mischievous imagination run riot and interpreted the statement as a rebuke to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who had aggressively taken on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the latter’s customary Red Fort speech. Since Mr Advani had neither taken the Gujarat Chief Minister's name nor had he in any manner referred to Mr Modi’s counter-reply to the Prime Minister, it is inappropriate to assume that Mr Modi was the BJP patriarch's target. But the Congress latched on to it as opprobrium of the Gujarat Chief Minister's bellicosity in challenging the Prime Minister's address which, incidentally, had much to be countered. Ironically, while Congress leaders ‘praised' Mr Advani's bipartisanship, they did exactly the opposite of what he had proposed. They went ahead to heap scorn on Mr Modi and call him all sorts of names.
They tried to exploit the remark as being a stand-off between Mr Advani and Mr Modi. In their desperation to somehow derail the momentum that the BJP under the guidance of the experienced Mr Advani and other senior leaders has picked up in the run-up to the lok Sabha and a bunch of Assembly elections, they want to create fissures within the BJP. But they have reason to be disappointed. The leadership of the party is united in ousting the Congress from power, and it is working in tandem to achieve that goal. Mr Advani is too experienced a leader to fall into the trap that the Congress has laid. On many earlier occasions, the party has attempted to project Mr Advani's remarks as a censure of the BJP’s senior leaders, when the reality was that the veteran was only using his experience and stature to direct the party. The positive outcome of the meeting on Sunday of the BJP's senior leaders, including Mr Advani, and State-level campaign committee members, shows that the party is moving ahead, unmindful of the malicious propaganda that its rivals have indulged in.
Because the Congress-led UPA2 has little to show by way of achievements — it is steeped in corruption, has thoroughly mismanaged the economy and made a complete mockery of the country's foreign policy — it has been, unsuccessfully, resorting to create divisions within the main Opposition. Even senior leaders of the Congress, including Union Cabinet Ministers, have lost control over their tongue, targeting their political rivals, more notably Mr Modi, with vile language, like they did on Independence Day. If they believe that such verbal abuses will help them divert the people's attention from their gross failures, they are mistaken. The voters are not fools and they can see through the game. The Congress is on the way to some serious drubbing in the coming lok Sabha election and in the election to State Assemblies, if the various opinion surveys that sections of the media have recently conducted are to be believed.