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Terror attacks fail to impact
on Congress
New
Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) The terrorist attack in Mumbai that the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had hoped would harm the electoral
prospects of the Congress failed to sway voters away from
the party as people felt it was not an issue to be politicised,
says a triumphant Congress.
Even
before the blood had been mopped up from the three-day terror
drama in Mumbai where gunmen killed 172 people, the opposition
BJP took out huge advertisements slamming the Congress for
being unable to defend the nation and promised better security
if voted into power.
“Partisan
politics in the name of terrorism has backfired. Terror is
not an issue to be politicised. We see terrorism as a threat
to India and not something that is party specific," said
Tom Vadakkan, the Congress media secretary, as his party looked
set to win in three of the five states.
"We
appealed to people to fight this evil unitedly. But the BJP
tried to use it as an election issue to gain votes."
"It
shows the maturity of our democracy and the depth of the democratic
aspirations of the people of our country. Politicians should
realise that people's emotions on issues like terrorism and
communalism cannot be politicised," added Mohammed Salim,
Communist Party of India-Marxist's (CPI-M) deputy leader in
the Lok Sabha.
All
four states barring Chhattisgarh, where two rounds of balloting
had already ended, went to polls after Nov 26 when terrorists
held Mumbai to ransom.
An
upbeat Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said that events
in Mumbai did not affect the election outcome - Delhi had
voted when the denouement of the terror siege in Mumbai was
still being played out.
"The
attack in Mumbai in an attack on India. People should not
politicise terrorism. This is something against the country
and people have rejected the BJP's stand on terrorism."
Criticism
over the economy and security has helped the BJP win a string
of state elections last year but this time around the verdict
has been different.
Even
BJP president Rajnath Singh conceded that the terror attacks
had not impacted significantly on voters' minds despite the
party's high-pitched clamour to pin the blame on the Congress.
"Local
issues were given more importance, and voters it seems had
already made up their mind (who to vote for)," he said.
While
public anger against politicians for failing to prevent terror
attacks in the country grew, so did voter turnout in the state
elections.
Chhattisgarh,
which went to polls before the terror attack, recorded a voter
turnout of 68 percent, Mizoram 72 percent, Madhya Pradesh
69.35 percent, Rajasthan 66.38 percent and Delhi 57.72 percent.
Indo-Asian
News Service
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