The Newshour Debate: BJP chargesheet against UPA - Full Debate (4th April 2014)

In a debate moderated by TIMES NOW's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, panelists -- Abid Rasool Khan, Spokesperson, Congress; Dr Subramanian Swamy, Chairman, BJP Strategic Action Committee (for LS Polls 2014); Hartosh Singh Bal, Political Editor, The Caravan Magazine; Ritabrata Banerjee, Member, Rajya Sabha, CPI (M); T R Raghunandan, Advisor, Accountability Initiative, Centre for Policy Research; and Prof Kamal Mitra Chenoy, Professor, Centre for Comparative Politics & Political Theory, JNU -- discuss the issue of Denouncing UPA government as a "failure" on all fronts, BJP today (April 4) coming out with a scathing "chargesheet" on UPA's 10-year rule, accusing Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi of being equally guilty of all ills, and whether it is strange that BJP is ready with a UPA chargesheet while struggling to put together its manifesto. Denouncing UPA government as a "failure" on all fronts, BJP today (April 4) came out with a scathing "charge-sheet" on its 10-year rule that accused Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi of being equally guilty of all ills by exercising authority without responsibility. The party picked holes in the government's economic policies that brought "destruction", its policy on defence and national security, foreign policy and "neglect" of North-East, besides "undermining" of institutions including "compromising the diginity and integrity" of the office of Prime Minister. BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad accused the Congress leadership of a "deliberate, conscious devaluation" of the office of PM by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi where Manmohan Singh acted more like a CEO of a Board where they had controlling interest. The BJP "charge-sheet" concludes by saying, "The Congress-led UPA government has indeed been a disaster for this country. It has only left a legacy of suffering, agony, disappointment and hopelessness for the people of India. Its misdeeds in various fields have shaken the very foundation of the country." Attacking govt on challenges to national security, Prasad said even though the Prime Minister had described left -wing extremists as the single biggest security threat to the country, yet the govt's response has not been commensurate with the gravity and magnitude of the threat. The 58-page documents highlights the "failures" of the UPA on various fronts, including unkept promises made in 2009. Slamming UPA's economic policy, BJP said this govt has destroyed every engine of Indian economy, where inflation is uncontrolled, growth rate is declining and unemployment is going down. The BJP charge-sheet lists atleast ten alleged scams of Rs 10,000 crore and more, including the 2G Spectrum, Coal mines allocation, CWG, Air India, rotten food, ISRO-Devas and Defence land scam. Besides, it also listed many other alleged scams like the Adarsh, cash-for-vote, Tatra truck, Vadra land deal, KG Basin oil scam and Agusta Westland helicopter scams. Attacking the govt on the national security front, BJP accused Defence Minister A K Antony, saying, "the so- called honest Defence Minister is a symbol of inaction and indecision." On the foreign policy matters, he said the government has failed to adopt an effective policy or enhance capacities of the Armed Forces to adequately meet the threat arising from China's belligerent posture along the Indo-Tibet border.