Shimla: Ridiculing Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani's remark comparing Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee with Jawaharlal Nehru, Congress today (Mar 25, 2004) alleged it was an attempt to "belittle the contributions of Nehru to the country".

"It is ridiculous to draw parallels between two leaders who were poles apart ideologically and politically," Congress spokesman Anand Sharma told a press conference in Shimla.

"Nehru was a true secular and a national hero who led the freedom movement with Mahatma Gandhi, while Vajpayee had no role in the national movement and had remained a stalwart of communal organisations like RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh)," he said.

Alleging that "Advani's remark was an attempt to belittle the contribution of Nehru to the country," Sharma claimed, "However, the people of the country will not be misled by such untenable claims."

Charging Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with targeting constitutional institutions like the Election Commission, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and Parliamentary Committees, he said the manner in which the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government initiated review of the constitution and the BJP leaders attacked the Election Commission and the CAG "only exposed their fascist attitude".

"The language and tone used by the BJP leaders against the Election Commission and the CAG were totally unacceptable in a democratic polity," Sharma claimed.

Accusing the Prime Minister of "double speak", the Congress spokesman alleged, "Vajpayee changes his stance on various issues so frequently that it has become difficult to understand what he actually stands for."