'BJP thinks Coalgate is their Bofors moment'

FP Staff • August 28, 2012, 11:46:33 IST

“BJP says that simply because the Congress has a majority in Parliament they will use brute force to put everything under the table. That is a very dangerous philosophy,” Vinod Mehta, told CNN-IBN.

BJP, while continuing its strategy to obstruct parliament till Prime Minister Manmohan Singh resigns, yesterday made allegations that the Congress has benefited financially in the Coalgate scam. Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, journalist and economist, says that the BJP thinks that the Coalgate scam can be used politically against the government like the Bofors scam, which led to the fall of Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister accused in the Bofors scam, in the 1989 general elections.

“The BJP thinks Coalgate is their Bofors moment,” Thakurta said to CNN-IBN on a television debate.

Also on the debate was Vinod Mehta, Editorial Chairman of the Outlook Group, who also criticised the BJP for their strategy.

“BJP says that simply because the Congress has a majority in Parliament they will not allow debate and use brute force to put everything under the table. That is a very dangerous philosophy,” Mehta said.

“If tomorrow the BJP says that we don’t like this piece of legislation, we disagree with it, we won’t allow the Parliament to function! After all, BJP is a minority, they must accept that,” he added.

Mehta said that BJP should accept that they are in a minority and should not force the majority government to take certain actions.

“Rules of the game are if you are minority, then you have to abide by that. You cannot force the majority government to do something. BJP should accept that they are not government of the day,” he said.