Congress is 'mother of hate politics': Venkaiah Naidu

Senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu Friday attacked the Congress, calling it "the mother of hate and divisive politics in India".

"The Congress has been indulging in this divisive agenda from before Independence and it is pursuing it with renewed vigour to cater to its vote bank politics. How can the prime minister or the Congress vice-president criticise the Bharatiya Janata Party on that count," Naidu said, speaking to reporters.

Naidu alleged that the Congress had failed on all promises it made to the country and, unable to explain its failure, was trying to divert attention from development to rake up communal issues for political dividends. "But it will boomerang on them," Naidu said.

Unable to counter the development agenda of the BJP or match the leadership of its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, the rattled Congress is once again back to raising communal issues, he said.

The BJP leader cited various examples to illustrate his point, including "propping up" Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale to contain the Akalis in Punjab and the Muslim League which was responsible for dividing the country.

He also cited the Congress's alliance with the MIM (Majlis-e-Ittihadul-Muslimeen) in Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and the growth of forces like SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India), JeM (Jaish-e-Mohammad) and LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba).

He also questioned the circular from the central government to the states, asking them to be extra careful while arresting and prosecuting people from a particular community involved in criminal cases.

Naidu also referred to the proposed Communal Violence Bill which he said suggests that no majority community member could ever be a victim and assumes that communal offences are always committed by people belonging to the majority community.

He mentioned statistics of communal violence -- 1,194 incidents between 1950-1995 -- and asked what right the Congress had to criticise others.

"Is it not a fact that in your present regime, 921 communal incidents, causing around 940 deaths, have happened?" Naidu sought to know from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

He urged the Congress and the prime minister to explain the low GDP, now at 4.8 percent, from the NDA's 8.3 percent, the unprecedented fiscal deficit, the current account deficit, the trade deficit and the revenue deficit. He sought an explanation of the high inflation, lower agriculture growth and the failure to curb corruption.

He asked why no action was taken in cases of scams that cost the nation lakhs of crores of rupees.

"It is shocking to note the prime minister saying that the UPA has won, inspite of the scams in 2009, and will win in 2014 elections despite scams. Please do not underestimate the wisdom of the people and do not take them for granted... Your party will be doomed. They (the people) are waiting to throw the Congress out of power," Naidu said.

He challenged the Congress to a debate on development, that would discuss the performance of the United Progressive Alliance government (UPA) versus National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the development in states where the BJP rules versus those in which the Congress holds power.