leader of Opposition in the lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj on Thursday took digs at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for praising, in his I-Day speech, just four of his predecessors and giving other stalwarts like Atal Bihar Vajpayee a miss. Of the total four Prime Ministers mentioned by Singh, three belonged to the Nehru Gandhi family.
“Dr Manmohan Singh referred to four Prime Ministers who contributed to the making of India — all from the Congress party. He forgot even lal Bahadur Shastri there. The contribution of Morarji Desai and Atal Bihari Vajpayee has been no less,” she wrote on her Twitter handle. “This partisan approach does not go with the solemnity of this great occasion,” Swaraj said.
The Prime Minister had credited Jawaharlal Nehru for 'laying emphasis on the role of science & technology in nation building' and starting the work of 'transforming this ancient country into a modern nation'. He lauded Indira Gandhi, who 'boosted our confidence as a nation' and Rajiv Gandhi for setting into motion the 'process of technological and economic modernisation'. PV Narsimha Rao was the only PM outside the Nehru-Gandhi family who Singh credited for ushering an era of economic reforms.
Veteran BJP leader lK Advani struck a positive note about India's future and suggested leaders to desist from criticising each other on occasions like Independence Day.
“I heard the Prime Minister today...Today on Independence Day, without criticising anybody, we all should realise that India has unlimited potential for the future,” Advani said after hoisting the tricolour at his residence here.
“India has unlimited potential for the future. This past decade which — as the Prime Minister said today —will get over in 2014. He has enumerated the achievements and the shortcomings of this decade. We should now be concerned about making the decade starting from 2014 an unprecedented one in India's history. We should give it the best performance we can,” Advani said. He insisted that country should work towards making the 21st Century, a century of India where the world accepts that there can be no comparison with this nation.
At a flag hoisting function at BJP headquarters, party president Rajnath Singh said if voted to power his party will tackle internal and external security challenges facing the country. He described the recent communal violence in Kishtwar as a “challenge to democracy”.
The BJP also described Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Independence Day speech as “lacklustre and an outright disappointment” but hoped that the coming year — in which general elections are due — will usher in a new decade of growth.
“The country had large expectations from the Prime Minister on his parting Independence Day speech which was full of hollow claims. Country would have the PM to express his stand on issues of national security, especially against the backdrop of Pakistan attacking Indian soldiers and China intruding into Indian territory,” said BJP general secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy.