Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda yesterday obliquely hit out at Prime Minister IK Gujral, saying that the Centre could not allow 'lawlessness' to continue in Bihar. He also came down heavily on the Congress.
Speaking at the plenary session of the Janata Dal, Gowda alleged that there was lawlessness in Bihar with the government's blessings.
'Those at the helm cannot not wash their hands off the happenings in the state and certain harsh steps would have to taken to stem the rot. What kind of democracy is this?... On the fiftieth year of our Independence, judges
ask for protection for them and their family members...Is this civilised
rule or jungle raj,' the former Prime Minister said.
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He said he had opted to keep silent on certain issues in the party's interest, but he said he must speak out now. He, however, clarified: 'I am not speaking out of jealousy'.
Gowda also announced that he, along with Ram Vilas Paswan, Sharad Yadav and Devendra Prasad Yadav, would launch campaigns in Bihar against the state government.
In a one-and-half-hour speech, Gowda touched upon several subjects: his plans to revive the Janata Dal by holding a three-month-long tour from Kashmir to Kanyakumari; attacking the Congress; his government's performance. He also ridiculed forces who predicted the collapse of the Janata Dal.
Without naming the Congress, Gowda said the party was trying to regain its moorings among the minorities in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition. 'They are now now thinking that they are strong enough to form the government with the help of secular forces,'' he said. The Congress had lost its secular character on December 1992, but now it talked of forging alliance with other secular parties, he charged.
He said the attempts to strengthen the Janata Dal should not be construed as efforts to weaken the United Front and its government. Gowda cautioned his partymen to be wary of the 'whispering campaign' by certain vested interests 'which want to see that the Janata Dal is totally liquidated'.