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Journalism of Courage
Continuing its attack on BJP leader LK Advani for his controversial revelations regarding the Kandahar hijack, the Congress on Tuesday dubbed him “the weakest Home Minister India has ever had”. The Leader of the Opposition had recently dubbed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as “the weakest Prime Minister”.
AICC media cell chairperson Veerappa Moily also took a jibe at former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee saying he was “captive” of his own ministers. “He deserves our compassion. As PM, he was not allowed to function,” Moily said at a special press conference here. The ruling party has trained its guns on Advani since his revelations to The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTV’s Walk The Talk that he was not consulted on the decision to send then External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh to accompany terrorists to Kandahar to secure the release of 160 hostages.
The Congress released excerpts of the interview and quoted his public statements earlier to show “contradictions” in the former Home Minister’s stance on the episode. The Congress cited news reports published on January 4, 2000, in which Advani had described as baseless news reports that he had wanted to resign to protest the Government’s decision to release terrorists in exchange for the release of hostages. “I fully support the Government’s decision to release three Kashmiri militants in exchange for hostages. It was not at all on soft terms that the release of hostages was obtained. I am happy with the way the situation was handled because under the circumstances the Government had no other option,” Advani had purportedly told reporters after laying the foundation stone of a power project in Maithon.
Questioning Advani’s claims in the interview, Moily sought an “explanation” from him. “He was a lame duck Home Minister, a lame duck Deputy PM. He was not capable of discharging the duty endowed to him as Home Minister,” he said.
“The handling of the Kandahar hijack is in contrast to the brilliant manner in which the then Congress Government had dealt with the capture of Hazratbal mosque in Kashmir in 1994, resulting in the terrorists eating humble pie. The then NDA Government, on the other hand, straightaway played into the hands of the ISI,” said Moily.
