Others plot against NDA
Vajpayee said communists and Congress were 'plotting' to prevent NDA from returning to power.
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee campaigned for the NDA in Kolkata, accusing the communists and the Congress of 'plotting' to prevent the NDA from returning to power, but expressed confidence about the victory of the coalition.
Describing the communists and Congress as the two sides of the same coin, Vajpayee while addressing a joint election rally of BJP and Nationalist Trinamool Congress here said hectic activities were on now and attempts were being made to ensure that the NDA was stopped from returning to power.
"They are plotting to see how NDA can be stopped even if it got a majority," he said.
In an obvious reference to the post poll alliances being mooted by the non-NDA partners, Vajpayee asked, "Dilli mein kya banane ki koshish ho rahi hai? Main ye janna chahata hoon. (What are they trying to build up in Delhi? I want to know this)."
The communists did not want a nationalist party to grow and the Congress was also following the same line, he said.
Vajpayee said that the communists were dubbing the BJP as fascist and questioned, "who are fascists? The Himayat Committee, formed to clear the misconception of the minorities about the BJP, was not allowed to hold its meeting here. How could it happen in a democracy?
"...But it happened in West Bengal. Communists were certainly there (among the protestors). Yet they call us fascists," he said.
Vajpayee said that Congress and the communists had no programme and their only aim was to prevent BJP and NDA from coming back to power. "Now efforts are on in Delhi to keep the NDA out of power. This is a chess game and in this, the communists and the Congress are one."
"But three phases of Lok Sabha election are over and BJP and its allies which are fighting together, will gain majority," he said confidently.
Stating that he had received many complaints on electoral malpractices, he said, "people wonder, will the elections in the state be free and fair? Will the government machinery be misused. I know that many parties approached the Election Commission with complaints."
Referring to the Chapra Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar which had witnessed violence and arson during the poll, the Prime Minister said, "in West Bengal the situation is similar. Let us remember that to lose an election is no big deal but what we want is a free and fair election. We do not want the government machinery to be misused."
Pointing out that the communists could not expand beyond West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, Vajpayee said that this was because the people were aware of their modus operandi. "The people know that what the communists do here will not work in other states. It is also for this reason, that the communists are wary of expanding to other states."
He said that NDA had a full-fledged manifesto and the government was run on the basis of a common programme.
"We had formed the NDA with various parties having divergent ideologies and programme. But we have formed a common programme to run the government," Vajpayee said in his half-an hour speech.
The Prime Minister said, the country was taken to the path of development and progress during NDA rule and had a potential to emerge as a great nation.
"The world acknowledges it. But the Congress and communists say they don't accept it. The say that the nation is being destroyed. But how?" Vajpayee asked.
"...When forex has grown, production increased and inflation checked, are these signs of weakness?" he asked.
Reminding the people that he was in Parliament in the last 40 years, Vajpayee in an emotional vein, said, "can I allow the country to be ruined? If crisis comes, we will stand firm without outside help."
Dismissing criticism that NDA government was anti-labour, the Prime Minister said, "we are aware of the plight of workers. We also want the PSUs to profit".
He said that his government had taken up the Golden Quadrilateral project linking the length and breadth of the country and had also initiated the project of inter-linking of rivers to check floods and prevent drought.