Rajkot: Former BJP president and leader of Opposition L K Advani began his five-week Bharat Suraksha Yatra with an all-out attack on the UPA Government's policies.
Advani criticised the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, saying it was a surrender to Washington.
"Isn't this Indo-US nuclear deal a surrender? They are putting restrictions on India's nuclearisation," he told a rally before starting the sixth yatra of his political career.
"Those who think of the country's security and its defence are required to have both long and short-term visions," he said.
"They (Congress) found a scapegoat (Singh). The External Affairs Minister resigned but nothing happened to the Congress," Advani said. "This Congress administration is neck-deep in corruption".
The yatra coincides with elections in five states, however, denied the event had any electoral motives.
The former BJP chief and his successor Rajnath Singh, who began another yatra from Orissa simultaneously, will end their tours on May 10 in Delhi.
The run would see Advani, who had brought yatra into the country's political lexicon, along with terms like 'pseudo-secularism', traversing through ten states, before concluding in Delhi on May 10.
He would be taking breaks to campaign in the five poll-bound states.
The yatra is primarily aimed at educating people about the threats posed to the country's internal and external securities by the "minority appeasement" policies of the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre and its alleged failures on all fronts.
Advani is optimistic about his run and feels that this is the best way to reach out to people and convey the party's message.
It has an elevated platform and a public address system for speeches. It also has a hydraulic lift for two persons.
AC interiors, aircraft-like toilets and satellite TV will keep Advani comfortable.
Converting the bus into a rath cost the BJP Rs 20 lakh
Dilip Chhabria Designs Pvt Ltd, famous for making customised vehicles, in Chinchwad, Pune, designed the rath.
Advani’s earlier two raths were also made in Maharashtra - at Pune and Mumbai.
The bus was remodelled under tight security and utmost secrecy, as the BJP did not want to attract attention before the yatra.
The BJP website says, “In modern times, the Bharatiya Janata Party is proud to have reinvented the quintessentially Indian tradition of Yatra and employed it - as against the imported, ‘videshi’ concept of ‘roadshows’ - as a means of mass political campaign.”
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