16 Jan 2009
NEW DELHI: Having started off by supporting the ruling UPA on dealing with terror following the Mumbai attacks, the BJP is gradually building pressure on the government for "climbing down" from its strong stand.
With Lok Sabha elections round the corner and terror being one of the key issues that the opposition party plans to flag against the ruling Congress, it suits BJP to up the ante.
After 26/11, when the government went on the offensive against Pakistan, BJP was left with no option but to remain virtually silent as it was the same line that the saffron party was advocating. But now that the government appears to be lowering its pitch, BJP has gone on the offensive.
On Thursday, it accused the government of "being down on its knees and meekly accepting" the verdict of the US and the UK that "Pakistani state actors were not involved" despite repeated assertions by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, home minister P Chidambaram and foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee that India would not accept anything short of action on the ground to prevent terror attacks emanating from Pakistani soil.
BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said the "complete failure" of the UPA government to clearly rebuff the startling assertions by British foreign secretary David Miliband gives weight to the Pakistan PM's assertion that India has given "proof" and not "evidence". "It seems that after belittling its own position, the government is now shifting its stand," he said, adding, "Even worse is the stoic acceptance of the external affairs minister that the trial of fugitives in Pakistan is acceptable."
The party demanded that the nation deserves "an explanation about this U-turn" on the government's part.
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