Pangri (Maharashtra): In an apparent reference to Congress, which ruled the country for over five decades since Independence, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani on April 12 sharply attacked the party for its "failure" to transform "swaraj" (Independence) into "suraj" (good governance).

"Hamara raj to aaya, per accha raj nahin" (we got independence but could not get good government), Advani said while addressing a largely-attended rally after inaugurating a project for ethanol production from sugarcane juice at Vaijnath co- operative sugar factory run by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national vice president Gopinath Munde.

Advani, in his hard-hitting speech, said despite having vast natural resources, the country could not make much progress in these five decades.

He claimed that BJP did not criticise Congress to assume power at the Centre. "We know that Congress is fast losing sympathy and people are searching for an able party to provide an alternative government," Advani said.

He also lashed out at the vote-bank politics of certain parties, saying it had caused serious damage to the country's politics.

Stating that BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is giving paramount importance to country's security and development, he said they were making an endeavour to give "suraj" (good governance) to the people of the country.

Both security and development of the country were inter-linked, Advani said, adding NDA after coming to power conducted Pokhran nuclear tests.

"Our opponents, including Congress, criticised us for carrying out nuclear tests, but the BJP-led government went ahead with its policies and now nobody criticises us anymore," he said.

Hitting out at the "double standards" adopted by the Congress, which opposes steps undertaken by the Centre but implements them in the Congress-ruled states, the Deputy Prime Minister said national interest and not political gains must be kept in mind while initiating various policies.

Advocating a stringent act like Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) to deal with subversive activities, Advani said he was happy to know that Congress-led Maharashtra government has invoked POTA against certain terrorist elements.

"Deri se sahi per unhe samajh main to aaya isi bat ki khushi hain" (Even if it's late, it's good that they have finally understood), he said.

Countries like US and UK, which talk about civil liberties and human rights have more stringent laws than POTA, Advani added.

Allaying fears that POTA would be misused, he said the government has constituted a review committee to prevent misuse of the anti-terrorism act.

PTI