Press
Briefing Wednesday, 21st July 2010
Shri
Manish Tewari addressed the media today.
Shri Manish Tewari said the Bhartiya Janata Party
yesterday once again leveled the baseless accusations
that the foreign policy of the UPA Government is guided
by the United States of America. It would be worthwhile
jogging the memory of the BJP that starting from 1947
when the First Asian Relations Conference was held in
Delhi to 2008 when the UPA Government broke a 25 years
old Nuclear Apartheid, it is the UPA Government and it
is the Congress leadership over all these decades which
has protected and furthered India's supreme national
interest. I would like to ask the BJP that in 1998 after
the Second Pokhran Test whose Government was it that
wrote a letter to the United States of America which
made India the laughing stock of the world. Again in
1998 whose Government was it which commenced the
Champagne and Caviar Diplomacy with Stoke Albert
travelling the whole world, it was the BJP Government.
Whose Prime Minister, who in 1998, went to New York and
unilaterally offered to sign the CTBT, it was the BJP
Prime Minister. After 9/11 which Government unilaterally
without being asked for offered the United States of
America the military bases in India, it was the BJP
Government. So before the BJP starts pointing fingers at
others, it would be in their interest to introspect on
their track record. Today it is not only the foreign
policy or the diplomacy of India which has been
recognized the world over. Recently I have been to an
International Conference of Asian political parties on
Poverty Alleviation, the developmental model which the
UPA Government has adopted attracted tremendous amount
of interest all the way from Tokyo to Turkey. The
developmental model which is premised on a legal
architecture of rights, intervention to alleviate the
sufferings of the poorest of the poor and the
empowerment of grass-root governance structure to
deliver poverty alleviation programmes to the vulnerable
and marginalized sections of the people has attracted
and has aroused international interest among democratic
and political parties around Asia and even in the
context of the United States of America, through our
strategic arrangement with them over the past 5 years, I
think the UPA Government has done more to further
India's strategic national interest than anybody in the
past.
To a question over the directions issued to the
leadership of the Congress party not to speak out of
turn and is it not muddling with their freedom of
expression, Shri Tewari said that every organization
functions in a particular manner and if a circular has
been issued reminding people that they have specific
responsibilities and they should stick to their briefs,
I do not find it out of place and we do not discuss our
intra-organizational matters on public platforms.
Shri Tewari further said any organizational circular
cannot be specific to any individual. In a political
party everybody has an assigned responsibility and if
the party through an internal process flags that for the
attention of office bearers from the AICC level
downwards, I do not find anything inappropriate with
that. The party has an institutionalized process of
addressing issues and that institutionalized process is
on flay at the moment and I would like to leave it at
that.
Shri Tewari further said first of all let me
categorically reject the underlined assumption. No
circular, no organizational circular is ever person
specific. There are platforms available in the party
where a robust intra-party discussions or issues both
critical to the organization and nation can take place
and beyond that there is a structure in place whereby
the official view of the party on an issue or issues is
articulated and I think those processes are very well
defined and they are known to everybody.
Shri Tewari further said I think when you imply
seniority it subsumes a certain sense of discretion
also. Discussion essentially does not mean a formalized
structure where things are to be discussed and debated.
There are various ways available to the party leaders
from the block to the national level to bring issues to
the attention and also for a free and frank debate on
various issues. It goes on all the time formally and
informally and in fact anybody who has been covering the
AICC for a while is aware as to how robust the whole
process is. I do not think there is need to go beyond
that. Every party does have a methodology of functioning
whereby the intra-party platform have a particular
function and the party platform which articulates the
party's position outside has been clearly defined in the
formalized function.
Shri Tewari further added that every political party has
a certain functional dynamic and democracy does not mean
anarchy. It has to be juxtaposed by a certain sense of
discipline and that is why everybody in the party has a
collective but a differentiated responsibility.
On the question of yesterday's incident in Bihar
Assembly, Shri Tewari said what happened in Bihar
Assembly or what happens in any other representative
fora if it degenerates into violence, it is something
which is unfortunate and it should not happen. But I
simultaneously juxtapose it by saying that it also
becomes the responsibility of the Presiding Officer of
the House to keep the sensitivities of the Members in
mind and I specifically give the example of Punjab
Vidhan Sabha. Tomorrow the Punjab Vidhan Sabha would
meet for its Monsoon session. Sitting in the Chair of
the Speaker would be an individual who has been charged
in the corruption case. Now would such an individual be
able to command the respect of the House which he is
supposed to run. So therefore, you do not clap with one
hand. While we absolutely do not condone or absolve or
in any manner do not endorse any kind of indiscipline
especially the kind which took place in Bihar Vidhan
Sabha, I would like to reiterate that it is also
incumbent upon the Presiding Officer that sensitivities
of Members are kept in mind.
To a question over the murder of an RTI activist in
Ahmedabad, Shri Tewari said there is something evil
which has been happening in Gujarat over all these
years. You have a Home Minister in Gujarat who is almost
on a run. People say he does not attend office because
he is scared that he would be picked up by the
investigating agency. And now you have a RTI activist
whose family is pointing fingers at the BJP MP in his
unfortunate murder. We feel that the matter should be
investigated at length. All those responsible should be
brought to book because howsoever high you might be, the
law is above you and that is the dictum we believe in.
To a question over the funding of terrorists in Assam by
a Congress man, Shri Tewari said essentially if there is
any substance to the allegation, I am sure, the
concerned agencies would look into it and let me
underscore and reiterate the fact that the Congress'
credentials in the fight against terror from the North
West to North East and from the South to North are
absolutely unblemished. We have been in the forefront of
every fight against terrorism and separatism. There is
no question of a Congress man or the Congress Party ever
indulging in any such activity.
Tom Vadakkan
Secretary, AICC
