Mangalore, April 28, 2013:
Photo and report by C D Souza
Leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitely described the UPA government as ‘master in the management of decline’ and said despite the Chinese incursion into 19 kms of Indian Territory, the government is clueless on the strategy to deal with the situation.
In a special address on “India 2020 – Issues and Concerns” organized by Citizens Councial, Mangalore, held at Sanghnikethan Jaitely said “Former President of India Abdul Kalam had a vision to make India a super power by 2020 and it was a defining moment for India’s national aspirations. But India wasted last few crucial years and as such goalpost has been shifted behind. Today the economy is in shackles because of widespread corruption. Crucial years have been wasted in shamelessly trying to cover up corruption”.
Jaitely said that India disturbed frontier all over and the neighbouring countries. India is not taken seriously even by a small country like Maldives, let alone China and Pakistan. “We cannot afford to allow the Maldievan islands to become havens for extremists”, he stated.
Being the largest democracy in the world, he said India needs good governance, clarity, determination, a sense of resilience among the people and also need to overcome the absence of a decisive leadership. “When we have a weak government at the centre the decline is visible in every field. This is not just exaggeration but hard fact. India is in need of clarity of firmness, a leadership which is patriotic and is able to defend our sovereignty”, he declared.
Further he said that India has an unsettled border with Bangladesh and there is illegal migration which has changed the demography of Assam and other north eastern states. There is threat not just to our democracy but threat to our very security. “We have a government at the centre which is encouraging illegal immigration. This is the foremost example of vote bank politics destroying India”.
