And my vote goes to... (Part 2)

Contd from the previous post...

I have seen that most of my friends are voting for the BJP, because the BJP has specifically taken on itself to woo the urban youth towards the party. With their “youthful” (age 81), “insightful” (talks about tracking Swiss Bank Accounts when over 70% of his own partymen have such secret stashes) and “decisive” (who had to release known terrorists during the Kandahar incident) leader L. K. Advani, the BJP looks all set to grab the urban vote. CM Narendra Modi (age 58) calls the Congress Party “old”. Well, it is old, but atleast the PM from Congress (I) at 76, is younger and more educated than the PM from BJP.

BJP talks about the series of bomb blasts in 2008 as if they were the worst in history. Can anyone remember the Akshardham Temple (one of the most famous temples in India) attack in 2002, the attack on our Parliament in 2001 and perhaps the hijacking of the IA Flight 814 in 1999, in which we released 3 terrorists namely:

1. Maulana Masood Azhar: His outfit, the Jaish-e-Mohammed, carried out the attack on the Indian parliament in December 2001 that brought India and Pakistan to the brink of a full-scale war, and is perhaps responsible for the blasts in various cities last year.

2. Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar: He renewed the activity of Al-Umar Mujahideen in Muzaffarabad, close to the LOC (Line of Control), in recruiting and training of young Muslims in Indian part of Kashmir.

3. Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh: US authorities have named Saeed Sheikh as a key figure in the funding of the 9/11 attacks. Sheikh rose to prominence with the 2002 killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who at the time was in Pakistan investigating connections between the ISI and Islamic militant groups. Pearl had been kidnapped, had his throat slit, and then beheaded by him.

were released in a grand fashion – the then External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh, personally escorted three terrorists to Kandahar!

The BJP talks about stability – when only one of its previous 3 governments could complete a full term. The remaining 2 governments lasted 13 days and 20 months each. Inspite of losing support of the Left-Parties, the UPA managed to win the most recent trust vote on the Nuclear Energy issue.

I do agree there were some positives also in the previous NDA government too. AB Vajpayee continued a lot of reforms that the Congress had initiated and introduced some new ones too. The Kargil war victory was also a high-point for us as a country. But that was the time when the PM was a different guy. I have personal admiration for Mr. Vajpayee as a person. 

But I do not trust Advani. Infact after listening to his speeches and press conferences, I don’t know if even Advani trusts himself. He always looks as if he is not convinced about what he is saying and is saying merely to appease the electorate.

I am not asking you to vote for Congress (I) because your judgment criteria may be different. But I ask you to think properly before you cast your vote. You may never know if your vote could be the Swing Vote for your party/candidate.

Ciao!