Advani promises security to religious places

Washim, Maharashtra, Oct 1 (UNI) Senior BJP leader and former deputy prime minister L K Advani today said if voted to power, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would provide full security to places of religious importance in the country.

Addressing a public meeting here, Mr Advani said it was entirely the government's responsibility to ensure that there were no untoward incidents at places of worship. In recent times, religious places had been targets of sabotage and had also witnessed human tragedy, he said.

The NDA government would ensure that tragedies like yesterday's stampede at Chamunda Mata temple in Rajasthan did not take place anywhere in the country, Mr Advani said.

Lashing out at the Centre for what he termed as its lackadaisical attitude towards terrorism, Mr Advani said there had been no terror attacks in the United States of America (US) after the World Trade Centre (WTC) tragedy in 2001. This was because the US government had implemented strict laws against terrorist activities, and had also tightened security measures, he said.

In contrast, the policies of the incumbent United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in India were only encouraging terrorism and extremism, Mr Advani alleged. For instance, the UPA dispensation in New Delhi still did not dare to carry out the death sentence handed down to Afzal Guru, the prime accused in Parliament attack case, he said.

Mr Advani also described the Democratic Front (DF) government in Maharashtra as ''inefficient'' for its alleged failure to curb suicides by indebted farmers in Vidarbha region of the state. The large number of suicides in Vidarbha indicated that the government has not been able to handle the problem, he added.

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