FIR in CD case reminds of Emergency: Advani

Lucknow, Apr 9 (UNI) Bharatiya Janata Party today came down heavily on Congress for conspiring to de-recognise it, and termed it a move akin to the Emergency imposed in 1975.

''The Emergency was imposed by Congress in 1975...the recent moves by Congress at the Centre reminds one of the days when democracy was killed,'' senior BJP leader L K Advani told newspersons here.

He said, using the controversial CD -- already disowned by the BJP -- Congress was planning a broadside against the former to serve its cause of unethical politics it had followed after Independence.

''How could an FIR be lodged against BJP president Rajnath Singh for distributing the CD which was disowned by the party and even when he was not present in the state capital during its release,'' Mr Advani wondered.

The senior BJP leader was sore over the fact the Election Commission (EC) was used in the process and the FIR which was lodged in Hazratganj kotwali in Lucknow on Friday, lacked in law and substance.

Mr Advani, alongwith BJP president and several other senior party leaders , had earlier offered arrest at the kotwali here to protest the FIR against Mr Singh and leader of the opposition Lalji Tandon in UP assembly for release of the CD as part of the election material. The contents were allegedly inflammatory in nature.

The leaders, who were let off by the police for lack of evidence, said it vindicated the stand of the party to the fullest. ''The BJP's logic the FIR was malafide and unwarranted has been proved as the district administration has announced that it lacked evidence against the party leadership,'' Mr Advani said.

The BJP president said he offered arrest at the same police station where the FIR was lodged against him. But the administration was on a back foot. ''I further challenge Congress to take any action against us and face the people's wrath in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls as well as during the times to come,'' he said.

Mr Singh, flanked by the Mr Murli Manohar Joshi and Mr Yashwant Sinha, was of the view the BJP had always fought for dignity and self-resepct and would continue to do so in future also. ''Today's decision to offer arrest was the party's manifestation to fight injustice and to reiterate the party's aggressive nationalism for the betterment of the society,'' he said.

He made it clear the BJP was not in politics to come to power, but to create a good society. ''Come what may we would never allow Congress and other 'so-called' secular parties to pursue vote banr politics and this is why the former is against us,'' he pointed out.

The BJP leaders also regretted the manner in which EC hurried with the directive of lodging two FIRs in two days and termed the move questionable. ''The party always respected constitutional bodies but by such acts the constitutional institutions would earn a bad name for themselves in the eyes of the public,''they said.

They said the CD issue was blown out for proportion and the subsequent demand by the Congress to de-recognise BJP as a national party only showed its undemocratic character. ''The Congress should not forget they were taught a tough lesson by the people of India after Emergency and the Congress was going to meet the same fate again...BJP's victory in Punjab and Uttarakhand polls was just a beginning,'' Mr Advani and Mr Singh said.

UNI