BJP, Cong milk tragedy

The "united front" forged by the BJP and Congress in the interest of India's war on terror lasted precisely 24 hours. The crisis in Mumbai was far from over when the country's two biggest parties went back at each other's throats, unleashing vicious attacks that reduced their pious avowals of keeping "the issue of terrorism above politics" into a joke.The BJP put out large ads in newspapers centred around the Mumbai attacks, and the Congress reciprocating with ads invoking instances of terrorism in the time of the NDA government: the Kandahar hijack and the Parliament and Red Fort attacks.The Congress's M Veerappa Moily questioned the BJPs' "patriotism", and Kapil Sibal their "national commitment". The party cited "nonpayment of compensation to Gujarat police jawans during the 2002 Akshardham attack" to undermine Narendra Modi's commitment to "national security".The BJP's L K Advani said the recent "pre-occupation" of intelligence agencies with "so-called Hindu terror" had allowed the terrorist plot to go undetected in Mumbai. The Congress said Advani had declined the PM's invitation to accompany him to Mumbai to send out a message of unity — a charge that the BJP rubbished. "I was told that we would be informed about the venue of a meeting (with the PM) in Mumbai, but I received no word," Advani said.Sibal countered that the PM and Sonia Gandhi had avoided the site of attacks because it could hamper rescue operations". He reminded the BJP that "Akshradham was just 200 metres from the CM's residence, but Modi had taken 12 hours to reach there". The BJP ad said, against a red-blood background: "Brutal Terror Strikes At Will. Weak Government. Unwilling and Incapable. Fight Terror. Vote BJP." A second ad, released in the name of AB Vajpayee, began with "terror striking Mumbai", and ended with an "appeal to vote for the BJP". Asked why the BJP had issued the ad at a time when a grim encounter was still on, party vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said: "I have nothing to say on this". Delhi CM candidate V K Malhotra said: "We have only said that there's been an all-round failure on the intelligence front." General Secretary Arun Jaitley argued: "We are a thriving democracy and the debate must therefore continue. How can there be a gag order on debate in a democracy?" The Congress ad, set to appear on Saturday in Delhi, reads: "Kandhar ka kaand, Sansad par hamla, Lal Quila par hamla, aur ab Mumbai mein aatank… yeh rashtra ka prashna hai, rajneeti ka khel nahin"
The Election Commission said it could not take suo motu notice of print ads, and nobody had complained so far.