Kesarkar: Neither Modi nor Advani is secular
TEAM HERALD
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PANJIM: “If Modi is the magic wand, that Parrikar claims the BJP needs, then why was he consciously kept away from campaigning in Goa?” said Nationalist Congress Party state chief Nilkanth Halarnkar asked, adding that the elevation of Modi was the final nail in the coffin of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Halarnkar was reacting to recent developments within the Bharatiya Janata Party, at a press conference on Monday.
Neither Narendra Modi nor Lal Krishna Advani are a secular face of the BJP, Nationalist Congress party observer, Deepak Kesarkar said even as he reserved his comments on the recent political developments in the Bharatiya Janata Party, terming it an internal matter.
“The elevation of Modi and the resignation of Advani is an internal matter of the BJP. That having been said, Advani is a little softer. It is for them to decide who will lead their campaign. Progress in Gujarat is because of the development done by Congress previously which the current government is reaping the benefits,” Kesarkar said referring to the Narmada project which he said was executed by the Congress with the help of Maharashtra Congress government “without which Gujarat would have been a barren land.”
“By advertising what was already done, does not change the fact of how he rose to prominence. He should be hanging his head in shame. Public memory is very short, yet we will remind them from time to time,” Kesarkar said referring to the Gujarat riots and adding that he is the only chief minister of a state to be denied a visa by the US government.
Earlier state party president Nilkanth Halarnkar questioned why the BJP carefully kept Modi away from Goa in the run up to the state assembly elections.
Ahead of the state assembly elections, the BJP was eager to project a secular face and even gave as many six tickets to Catholics besides giving outside support to two Catholic independents Nilkanth said.
Modi’s knack for being a divisive factor continues to haunt him despite more than a decade having passed since the bloody Gujarat riots against Muslims during his tenure as chief minister.
His recent elevation as BJP chief campaigner has already caused a vertical divide within his own party.
