Sonia lashes out at L F over Nandigram

Uday Basu & Manas Banerjee

YMA GROUND (Berhampore)/SUJAPUR (Malda), April. 28: Congress president Mrs Sonia Gandhi today hit out at the Left Front government for the “deteriorating” law and order situation and expressed her sympathy for the hardships the people of Nandigram had suffered in the course of the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee-led government's misadventure there.“The law and order in this state is a cause for concern and there are complaints of torture for political reasons. If law and order isn't properly maintained, the whole system collapses. The law enforcing agency shouldn't make any discrimination in a democratic set-up,” she said.“I am with the people of Nandigram who have suffered so much. I am especially with my sisters, children and farmers of Nandigram who have faced such miseries,” Mrs Gandhi said to thundering applause from the crowd.She also took a dig at the Left parties’ demand for special measures for West Bengal and Kerala to mitigate the hardships of the people reeling under the skyrocketing prices, “You should realise there can't be one policy for Bengal and another for other states. The policies will have to be uniform for the whole country,” Mrs Gandhi said.The Congress chief described the UPA government's decision to waive farm loans worth Rs 60,000 crores as “a continuation of the policies of Nehru and Gandhiji for the uplift of the country's poor farmers." Farmers are the bulwark of the nation just as the soldiers protect the country's borders, she said.Mrs Sonia Gandhi continued her tirade against the CPI-M led government during another rally at Sujapur in Malda, slamming it over several issues, the most pointed among those being the “non-development of the Muslim community under the Left rule.”Mrs Gandhi advised the state government to introspect why the Muslims lagged behind in West Bengal despite the Left Front in power for 30 years. “The Sachar Committee report reveals the real position of the Muslims in West Bengal, it is not a statement of any political party,” she underlined.While hitting out at the Left on several issues, the Congress president, however, kept the option for an alliance with the Left open to retain power at the Centre.Explaining the Congress's stand on a secular alliance, Mrs Gandhi said it was not because the Congress was weak. “The alliance (with the Left at the Centre) was made for the unity of the country. In future too, we would fight for secularism and unity of the country,” she said.But she made it clear that she was not particularly happy with the West Bengal government and the Left parties’ routine accusations against the Centre on almost every count."It is easy to blame the Centre on every issue, but the state government should not forget its responsibilities," she commented and pointed out the spiraling prices of essential commodities in the state as a failure of the West Bengal government to deliver. #####