NEW DELHI, Aug 18: Indian opposition leader Sonia Gandhi, moving a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government on Monday, accused him of compromising India’s foreign policy, bungling its security and fomenting religious hatred.

Ms Gandhi, speaking amid frequent heckling by the treasury benches, said Mr Vajpayee’s rightwing government had proved to be “incompetent, insensitive, irresponsible and brazenly corrupt.” She said the government’s days were numbered.

However, Mr Vajpayee assured a meeting of the ruling National Democratic Alliance deputies ahead of the two-day debate on Monday that they would easily win the trust vote. The vote will be taken on Tuesday evening after Mr Vajpayee’s reply.

The NDA has close to 300 MPs, including the BJP and a clutch of regional allies.

However, All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha, which had cast the surprise “nay” vote against Mr Vajpayee’s previous administration and had led to his early fall soon after the Lahore visit in 1999, said it would abstain this time.

The opposition charge, timed to coincide with four state elections in November, and possible general polls in February, appeared to be aimed at jogging the public memory about several issues that had embarrassed the government.

Ms Gandhi’s thrust included the accusation that the government which boasted of national security as its main plank had actually freed three prisoners charged with terrorism, one of whom was later involved in the killing of journalist Daniel Pearl.

Ms Gandhi and several other opposition speakers wondered why the government had not shared an official probe report with a parliamentary committee that was investigating key defence deals, including inquiries pertaining to the Kargil-related procurements.

The Vajpayee government had failed to protect the lives of innocent people in Gujarat, Ms Gandhi said.

“Those involved in the Godhra incident should not be shown any mercy...In the Best Bakery case the government remained silent because it suited its communal politics. Isn’t it the duty of the prime minister to ensure that justice is done to all people?” she asked.

“It is a great shame. Are these people not human beings. Are they not sons and daughters of this country. Their right to live has been snatched from them,” she said. She accused the BJP leadership of using the ‘cross-border terrorism’ phrase to divide the people for their narrow political ends to win votes.

Criticising the NDA government for trying to foist their hidden agenda by subverting school textbooks, Ms Gandhi said: “Lessons on our national heroes have been replaced by lessons on some unknown people who had nothing to do with the freedom struggle.”

Millions of investors, poor pensioners and others were deprived of their lifetime of investments in a major financial scandal involving the official Unit Trust of India. “Not a single person was held accountable. Maybe those responsible had access to the higher-ups,” Ms Gandhi alleged.

She accused the government of serious intelligence failure in Kargil.

“India’s foreign policy is no longer independent,” Ms Gandhi said. She was followed by other speakers who said New Delhi would have dispatched troops to Iraq under US-command had it not been checked by the opposition in time.

Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishan Advani denied the charges as untrue. He accused Ms Gandhi of denigrating India and not just the government. He said Mr Vajpayee had turned down then US President Bill Clinton’s invitation to Washington during the Kargil standoff. This he said was not an act of compromise.