New Delhi:
In an apparent attack on BJP, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that parties whose politics is based on religion cannot take the country forward and insisted that only Congress is capable of dealing with the "big challenges" facing the nation.
Addressing a public meeting in New Delhi, Singh also took on BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani for raking up the issue of black money stashed in foreign banks, saying it was behaving "irresponsibly" for the sake of "election stunt".
He said BJP "does not understand" economic issues or is "deliberately misleading" people on the issue as he rubbished allegations that the government was not doing anything to bring back the black money.
Thanking the people of Delhi for voting the Congress to power in the recent Assembly polls, the Prime Minister sought a fresh mandate for the UPA, saying the country is faced with "big challenges" and it should be given another chance to complete the unfinished tasks.
"Parties whose politics is based on religion and caste cannot take the nation forward. You do not need to go to such parties," the Prime Minister said in apparent reference to BJP.
"The BJP claims it will tackle terror; what did it do to prevent Kargil, Parliament attacks? The Congress-led government has been a progressive government," he said.
Speaking on the issue of Sikhs being attacked by Taliban in Pakistan, Manmohan said that the Sikhs are being treated unfairly and India has taken up the issue with Pakistan government.
Singh, who was addressing his first election meeting in Delhi which will go to polls on May 7, said Congress is the only party that takes care of all religions, castes, particularly those who are economically and socially backward.
To buttress his point, the Prime Minister spelt out the programmes undertaken by his government for minorities, SC and ST during the last five years, like scholarship schemes.
He said his government had also introduced Communal Harmony Bill in Parliament which is aimed at dealing with riots.