SHILLONG: In the dog-eat-dog world of politics, especially in a state heading towards polls, verbal duels often reach a deafening crescendo and things take a turn for the ugly.
Now, to continue with the dog metaphor. Irked by the “wagging tail of a dog” comment – aimed at the National People’s Party (NPP) – made by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, BJP national spokesperson Nalin Kohli has demanded an apology from the MP and the Congress party.
Kohli said Tharoor’s phrase referring to the regional party as the wagging tail of a dog which, by implication, refers to the BJP as a dog, is not just unacceptable but also terrible and condemnable.
“BJP has received votes from people. Is it not an insult to the voters? Even the people of Meghalaya also voted for the BJP,” he said.
The BJP, he added, will keep exposing (and he coined a new word to sum up the Mukul Sangma-led government’s performance in the last five years) “malgovernance” in Meghalaya and the government’s unkempt promises.
Furthermore, Kohli took a dig at the Congress for releasing its manifesto at the penultimate hour, harping on the same promises the BJP has made in its vision document like creating new jobs.
“The very fact that they are now acknowledging that the Rs 5 lakh central health scheme is worth implementing shows that their own agenda is hollow,” he said.
“By choosing not to answer questions at the press conference convened to release the manifesto, the Congress has unintentionally revealed that it is worried about the state government’s track record and embarrassed about making fresh promises what with the promises made on the eve of the last Assembly elections remain unfulfilled,” he commented.
Asked on the encounter of GNLA commander-in-chief Sohan D Shira, Kohli lauded Meghalaya police, adding the security personnel were successful as there was no political interference.
Stating that the political will to hole up and eliminate the militant did not exist earlier, he said the death of NCP candidate Jonathone Sangma shattered the Congress’s false claim that militancy has been rooted out in Meghalaya. In a press communiqué, BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav said the Congress has reduced the election campaign to a slugfest and condemned Rahul Gandhi of running the party “like an oligarch” and “never venturing into tough questions”. He referred to Rahul’s pet dog, Pidi, and questioned its relationship with the Congress.
In order to conceal its inability to develop physical and social infrastructure in terms of providing clean drinking water, well-equipped schools and hospitals and maintaining law and order in Meghalaya, the Congress, Madav alleged, has resorted to blatantly “communalising” the election campaign by pitting the BJP against the Christians and minorities.
“An incumbent is supposed to give a report card of his tenure. The people of Meghalaya need to ask, did the Congress government do that? An incumbent is supposed to give a vision. Did the Congress provide one?” he asked.
Madav further alleged that the Congress can clearly decipher the writing on the wall that the time for political change has come in the state. “Seeing the exuberant mood of the people for change, whisper campaigns, malicious humbug and sophisticated muck has been flung on people’s faces reducing Meghalayan democracy to a farce,” he asserted.
The communiqué concluded that the BJP will keep questioning the corrupt practices followed by the Congress, the government’s dismal record of development and, most importantly, “malgovernance”.
