Advani calls for "self-introspection" on Nandigram

Kolkata, Mar 17 (UNI) Describing his daylong visit to Nandigram and Sonachura, the scene of March 14 mayhem in East Midnapore district as ''horrendous'', Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L K Advani today suggested West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee to go for an ''immediate self-introspection''.

''Similarly, I also urge Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi to stand out and boldly criticise in Parliament the 'blackest day' in the Indian history in last 30 years,'' Mr Advani said while speaking to newsmen at the end of his visit to Nandigram and Sonachura areas.

Mr Advani went to Nandigram during the day as the leader of a nine-member Fact Finding Mission of NDA to get a first hand view of what had happened at the sleeply hamlet, situated about 175 km from here, on last Wednesday.

Mr Advani said that he never experienced such a situation when he faced a number of injured victims at Nandigram Health centre and nearby Tamluk Hospital and close relatives of other victims who either still remained untraced or had been criminally assaulted allegedly by the state police personnel or by the CPI(M) party cadres in disguise.

Flanked by other members of the NDA team which included former Informaton and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj, NDA Convenor George Fernandes, senior BJP MP S S Ahaluwalia, Mr Anand Gite of Shiv Sena, Mr R Ajnala of the Akali Dal and Mr Dinesh Trivedi, Lok Sabha member of the Trinamool Congress, Mr Advani was very critical about the role of Mr Bhattacharjee in the entire episode.

Charging him as well as his party-the CPI(M), Mr Advani wondered what prevented the Chief Minister from seeking an unconditional apology for the massacre in which 15 bodies had so far been recovered, besides doing some serious introspection on the whole issue. ''The continuous disregard to the basics of democracy as shown by Mr Bhattacharjee, had brought to the fore the question of his humane values,'' Mr Advani observed.

Also criticising the role of the Congress party at the Centre for allegedly remaining totally mum on the whole affair besides trying to undermine its seriousness, the senior BJP leader said, When the state unit of the Congress was very vocal in protesting the massacre along with all sections of people, I wonder why the party High Command did not utter a single word in criticising the state government,'' and suggested the party central leadership, including Ms Gandhi, to do ''some introspection''.

Asked whether he or the NDA team proposed to meet the President to apprise him of the ground reality at Nandigram-Sonachura following the March 14 massacre, he said they had already tried to meet him yesterday. ''But since the President was out of town, we could not meet him. But we hope to call on him soon to apprise him of our experiences,'' he said.

Regarding Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi's report to the Centre, Mr Advani, hailing the concern expressed by the Governor, said, We hope that he would also urge the Centre to immediately implement his recommendations.'' About the future role of the NDA, he said the NDA members would separately meet in the Lok Sabha on Monday next to decide on its next course of action on the Nandigram issue. He, however, did not elaborate.

UNI