MADRAS, India: The West Bengal Chief Minister Mr. Jyoti Basu, on Saturday called upon the people to “be prepared for any eventuality” in the face of the Prime Minister, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi’s assertion that he would not hesitate to dismiss state governments he found “antinational”.
Addressing a rally organized by the Democratic Youth Federation of India on the concluding day of its five day all India conference, Mr. Basu said this attitude of the Prime Minister was in itself “undemocratic, authoritarian and antinational”.
It revealed that the Congress (I), which had no inner party democracy had not changed its attitude or learnt any lessons from the time it dismissed the first communist government in Kerala to the recent past when it dismissed the NT. Rama Rao Government in Andhra Pradesh and the Farooq Abdullah government in Jammu and Kashmir, Mr. Basu said.
Referring to Sri Lanka, he said the Indian government should mount a political and diplomatic initiative and mobilize the support of the Tamils for the Indo Sri Lanka accord to restore peace to the island.
Mr. Basu said he was of the view that the IPKF could not be withdrawn from Sri Lanka at this stage.
He said his party welcomed the Indo Sri Lanka Agreement as it felt that it aimed at fulfilling the aspirations of the Tamils by providing an autonomous and combined northern eastern province within the constitutional frame work of Sri Lanka.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 1, 1988
