BHOPAL: Lashing out at Congress-led UPA Government, former BJP President Murli Manohar Joshi on Monday alleged that wrong policies of the Centre have encouraged separatists in Kashmir to hoist the Pakistani flag.
"After I hoisted the National Tricolour at the historic Lal Chowk in Srinagar in 1992, the practice continued for long but because of the Central Government's surrender before the separatist forces they have again started hoisting Pakistani flags in Kashmir," Joshi alleged at a press conference here.
Speaking on the occasion of "Amrit Mahotsav," organised on the 75th birth anniversary of senior BJP leader Pyarelal Khandelwal, Joshi said "due to the wrong policies of the Centre, which encouraged the separatist forces, the country will suffer in the longer run."
Such surrender (of government) before separatist forces was never happened in the country and the Centre was not in a position to fight with these forces as its constituents were opposing action against SIMI, he said.
He also alleged that some of the members of the Samajwadi Party (SP) are the office-bearers of the banned outfit SIMI saying it was the party which has withdrawn criminal cases against SIMI leaders during its rule in UP.
Criticising the Centre on the issue of Amarnath Shrine Board land row, he said that if the Centre had taken the decision on the issue earlier, so many people would not have lost their lives.
Supporting SP MP Jaya Bachchan's comment on Hindi language, he said people can speak in their own language in a particular state as India is a multi-lingual nation and among the languages, Hindi can be spoken in the entire nation.
He termed the opposition of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on the issue as "unconstitutional" and added that people have to see the MNS's intentions behind raising the issue.
He expressed concern over 14,000 vacant posts of officers in the defence forces saying only half of the total candidates selected for NDA have reported at the premier institute and only 10 candidates out of 80 selected to the Officers Training Academy have reached the Academy for training.
"Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should intervene in the matter by capping the gap between salary of defence personnel and civilians as it is a matter of only Rs 3,000-4,000 crore," Joshi said.
He said that the country should think over the rehabilitation of defence force personnel who retire at the age of 35.
Alleging that the Centre has failed in maintaining the economy of the country, he said that growing inflation rate is an evidence for it and all efforts made by the government to check it proved futile.
