NDA to give pension to aged farmers: Advani

Getting into an election mode, BJP's prime ministerial candidate LK Advani has said the NDA would launch a farm income guarantee scheme for small farmers and give pension to aged farmers if it is voted to power.

"A farm income guarantee scheme would be provided to small farmers," he said addressing 'Vijay Sankalp' rally here late Friday evening.

"If government employees can get pension, I do not see why aged farmers also should not get pension." He said the BJP would contest the Lok Sabha elections on the planks of 'good governance, security for common man and development on all fronts.'

Accusing the UPA government of abandoning highway and rural road development and interlinking of rivers projects, he said NDA would restart all those initiatives and promote infrastructure projects so that spending of amount on these schemes will help tide over recession.

Advani said during his interaction with captains of Indian industry, he was told that 'worst is yet to come'. "It's estimated that in the next three-four months, one-and-half crore jobs will be lost. Can the government cope with it? It cannot," he maintained.

Criticising the UPA for not executing Afzal Guru in the Parliament attack case, Advani said, "if the culprit...if the terrorist who attacked Indian Parliament had been some Anand Singh...some Anand Mohan...and not Afzal Guru...he had been hanged long back...he had been executed long back."

"The problems of security cannot be allowed to be distorted by considerations of vote bank politics," he said, adding, "a terrorist has no religion. A terrorist may be Muslim or Sikh or a Hindu or from any other community, he must be punished if he indulges in terrorism".

Security of the nation is 'unsafe' in the hands of UPA, he claimed.