SHRI P.C. THOMAS (MUVATTUPUZHA): Sir, I would like to speak.
MR. SPEAKER : No, please cooperate with me. I am sorry.
THE PRIME MINISTER (SHRI H.D. DEVE GOWDA): Hon. Speaker, Sir, with your permission, I would like to clear some of the doubts raised by the hon. Members of this House.
First of all, I want to thank the hon. Members for having agreed to pass the Finance Bill on the 21st. I would like to express my sincere thanks to the entire House for having agreed to pass the Finance Bill, the Vote on Account and the Appropriation Bill, on the 21st of this month.
Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, as a senior leader, has expressed that the supporting party should not be neglected in a manner in which the party which is running the administration with the support of the Congress (I) has neglected. It is a very good suggestion. Shri Santosh Mohan Dev has intervened to say that when this issue was raised by the Leader of the Congress, both C.P.P. and the Party Leader, nobody from the United Front met the Leader and tried to convince the Leader. That is one of the remarks which Shri Santosh Mohan Dev has made.
Sir, before going into the details, I would like to say something about the two letters which were forwarded to me, according to the statement made by the hon. Member, Shri P.R. Dasmunsi. I have not received any letter. The President of India, with a covering letter and with an enclosure, which was handed over by the Congress(I) President on 30th March, 1997, has sent that letter to me on 31st March, 1997. The letter of withdrawal presented to the Rashtrapatiji on 30th March, 1997 was forwarded to me by Rashtrapatiji on 31st March, 1997. Till then I have not received any communication from the Congress (I) President. On 30th March, 1997, I met the former Prime Minister, Shri P.V. Narasimha Rao.
Before my Minister of Finance left Delhi for Calcutta on 29th March, he requested me that the Congress (I) has not submitted their party accounts to the investigating officer. 31st March is the last date. There is no other option except to take action to levy penalty. He said that he was going to Calcutta and then to Goa and coming back only on the 31st March; please try to sort out this problem. This is what the Minister of Finance told me. He also told me that he had tried his best to contact the Treasurer, Shri Ahmed Patel to get the necessary explanation. But he was not available. So, please see that this issue is sorted out. I went to Shri P.V. Narasimha Rao on 30th March because he was the President at that time responsible for 1993-94 accounts. I did discuss with him. He suggested that he would send Shri Pranab Mukherjee to discuss about it. I came back and I gave a phone call to Shri Sita Ram Kesri, the President of the Party and the C.P.P. Leader. I told him that I want to meet him and want to discuss some of the important issues. Please let me know when it is convenient to him. He gave me the time to meet him at 2 o' clock on 31st March.
I have got some basic ethics in life. I have not come here in search of this office, with any aspiration, with any ambition. I did not aspire to become the Prime Minister of this country leaving the Chief Minister's office. There is no need for me to make any manipulative politics. The people of this country who are politically very much awakened, are aware of that. 12.40 P.M. was the time chosen to hand over the withdrawal letter and he gave me the time to meet him at two o'clock. Was Shri Sontosh Mohan Dev not there when I met his President? I met him twelve times.
The allegation is that I am meeting only Shri P.V. Narasimha Rao. I am not a person to stab behind the back. Shri P.V. Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister of the country. Yes, I was here on the day when the Vote of No-Confidence was moved and I voted against him. On that day he tried to save the Government with whatever methods and with whatever means he could. Today, those friends who want to teach sermons and morals in this country, those who want to attribute motives against Shri Narasimha Rao, were they not enjoying the office in his Government? Today, everybody wants to raise a finger against Shri Narasimha Rao saying that Deve Gowda is going to safeguard the interests of Shri Narasimha Rao. If he falls ill and is in the hospital and if Deve Gowda goes to see him, he is showing extra regard and respect to him! Just because he has lost the Presidentship, lost the CPP leadership, I am not a person to belittle him. He has done something for the nation. Whether he continued in office by using various political methods or not, I do not want to go into the details of that. He has bailed out this country from the economic crisis. I am not going to make sweeping remarks against everybody, but how some of you, friends, have belittled him, I know that. Even though it is not my concern, even though I know that I am going to lay down the office today, but friendship is not a marketable commodity in this country. Shri Narasimha Rao must be aware of these words. He is at the fag end of your life, so he should be aware of these words. These are the people who stabbed him. I am not going to stab him. On the day when he handed over the resignation letter to the CPP leadership, he was alone. I went to his house to know why this had happened.
Yes, I respect Shri Chandra Shekhar. My friendship with Shri Chandra Shekhar is very old. I had come in contact with him twenty years back. He is the seniormost leader and I respect him. Whether I was in office or not, I used to go to his house. Going to his house is a sin, going to Shri Narasimha Rao's house is a sin, meeting Shri Sharad Pawar is a sin, but meeting their President twelve times is not a sin! I have not neglected anybody in my life. Did I not go to Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee's house? Did I not go to Shri L.K. Advani's house? We should have some basic manners in public life. It is not a question of wooing anybody or pampering anybody to continue in office. You must try to give respect to your elders. The office which I am holding today for another one hour, is the highest office. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who was one of the tallest leaders in the world, sat here and performed his duties as Prime Minister.
The destiny dragged me here and made me to sit in this chair. When the former Speaker of this House, Shri Shivraj Patil, was speaking, I was hearing his speech. I appreciate some of the viewpoints he has expressed.
Sir, I would like to go in detail because this is my last speech in this House. I will go to the other House. I have got five years to stay there. ...(Interruptions) I only request all the Members, senior leaders, to cooperate with me. I have not interrupted even when severe attacks were made by several Members in this House. I never do it.
Shri Dasmunsi has said about my going to Bangalore and coming back.
SHRI HANNAN MOLLAH (ULUBERIA): Mr. Speaker, Sir, there is some defect in the sound system. It is disturbing.
MR. SPEAKER : I have asked them to check. It is being checked. Please bear with it.
SHRI H.D. DEVE GOWDA : Shri Dasmunsi, you are a good friend of mine. You took me to Calcutta. Please touch your heart and tell me -- what is the performance of this Prime Minister in the last ten months. Which Prime Minister has continuously visited for seven days the North-Eastern States? You are there from the days of the Youth Congress. You are a staunch Congressman. I do not want to question your loyalty to the Organisation. But you tell the truth. Do not suppress your conscience. There were people like Feroze Gandhi who exposed the corruption charges when his father-in-law was the Prime Minister. If you feel that the decision of your President to withdraw the support is going to help the so-called secular democracy, I welcome it. I have no regret. But I would like to tell you very frankly. I have not done anything else in the last ten months but to discharge my duties. ...(Interruptions) I am coming to it. Please wait.
Sir, my secular character was questioned. It is said that the Congress Working Committee is constrained to note that the United Front has failed to provide the leadership necessary to consolidate the forces of secularism and confront the forces of communalism. Am I responsible for their defeat in Punjab? Am I responsible for their defeat in the Corporation elections or the local bodies' elections in Maharashtra? Am I responsible for the defeat of the Congress candidates in all the bye-elections except in the bye-election of the seat vacated by me in my home State where the B.J.P. lost the deposit and the Congress won? I do not want to say that the B.J.P. and the Congress have come together. The B.J.P. got 23,000 votes in the 1996 parliamentary election and 27,000 votes in the Assembly elections. They lost the deposit and they come together to fight against secularism.
Shri P.R. Dasmunsi, you might have come to that opinion because of the communication gap. I would like to ask about the spirit of this Working Committee resolution. Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav is also here. There were three bye-elections for the Rajya Sabha. The Congress got 30 votes, the BSP 66 and the Janata Dal eight. If he had not passed on these 104 votes, could it be possible for any of these three parties, including the Janata Dal, the Congress and the BSP, to defeat the three official candidates of the BJP? You tell me. Do not regret the withdrawal. Do not worry about the withdrawal. Do no try to make any patching up now. It is not possible. Let the country know this.
I do not want to quote again in this House the appreciation by the media - in the editorial column or in `letters to editor'. Later on, I am coming to the point of the word used by the Congress(I) President about the performance of the Government and about the efficiency of the Government.
First of all, I would like to clarify some of these issues because in the morning, I did not want to make a political speech. Some people were under the impression that I was in a depressed mood. No. I got the training from Shri Chandra Shekhar. I will never bother about the office. I have tendered resignation thrice even against his advice. Today, I would like to make it clear that the day I received this communication of withdrawal of support from the President's office, I would have tendered my resignation. But immediately, on the next day, the leaders of all the parties of the United Front assembled here and said, "No, you should not resign. You should go before the House. We must test and we must find out who is who". Because of that decision taken by the United Front, I bowed my head. It is because of their support that I was elected as the Leader and it is with the support of the Congress, I am running the Government. I have at least this much of background.
In the last eleven months, I have never used any occasion to belittle the Congress in any public platform. I might have addressed 66 meetings in Uttar Pradesh where the BJP, in the Lok Sabha elections, had got a clear majority in 236 Assembly segments. In the Assembly elections, they have got about 176 Assembly segments for their party. Is it not an achievement, Shri P.R. Dasmunsi?
SHRI P.R. DASMUNSI (HOWRAH): Mr. Prime Minister, you did not try to unite the secular forces at that point of time.
SHRI H.D. DEVE GOWDA: You do not know. That is why, you are saying this. ....(Interruptions). I do not want to reveal everything that has happened because it will be unethical on my part, if I say what I had done at various stages. I do not want to do it. ....(Interruptions).
SHRI P.R. DASMUNSI (HOWRAH): I did not accuse you entirely. ....(Interruptions).
SHRI H.D. DEVE GOWDA: Shri Patwa, please do not disturb me.
Mr. Speaker, Sir, I never interrupted when the others were speaking. Now, they should please allow me to express my views in this august House as the Prime Minister, out-going Prime Minister. All right!
Sir, somebody told me, I think, my Home Minister, that the allegation was that the Prime Minister was trying to split the Congress Party. When Shri Madhavrao Scindia wanted to join the Congress Party, he came to me because he was in the United Front at that time. Did I not tell him to go and join and strengthen the Congress Party? Let him say that. (Interruptions) Please allow me.