BOMBAY: There are red faces in the BJP and RSS over Murli Manohar Joshi’s presence at the Pakistan Day reception on March 23 hosted by Pakistani High Commissioner Riaz Hussain Khokhar in New Delhi.

Senior BJP leaders are intrigued by their party President’s decision to attend what in effect was a celebration 10 commemorate the Muslim League’s resolution of 1940, demanding the creation of a separate Muslim nation which was to be later named Pakistan. This was the first time that the League had voiced the demand for partitioning India and separating its Muslim majority areas as a prelude to Independence.

“After denying the legitimacy of Partition for all those years and refusing to accept the two nation theory, this makes us look very funny,” says a source in the RSS, commenting on Joshi’s presence at the Pakistan Day reception. Similar sentiments are being voiced at 11 Ashoka Road, the BJPs headquarters,

Sources close to Joshi, however, claim that he was present at the Pakistan High Commission to “at tend an iftar reception” and that it was a reciprocal gesture. Joshi’s critics, however, say that this is at best “an excuse to wriggle out of an embarrassing situation.” The invitation card, they point out, made no effort to hide that the occasion was Pakistan Day.

This is what the card said: “On the occasion of Pakistan Day the High Commissioner for Pakistan and Begum Riaz Hussain Khokhar request the pleasure of at an iftar Reception on March 23,1993 from 1800 to 2000 hours at the High Commission for Pakistan, Chanakyapuni.” The first 16 words are in large type, while the words “Iftar Reception” are part of the small print.

The situation is all the more embarrassing for the BJP because the party’s MLA, Gopinath Munde. had raised a point of breach Of propriety in the Maharashtra Assembly, demanding that no legislator or Government official should attend the Pakistan Day reception hosted by the Pakistani Consul General in Bombay, Shahryar Rashed, The Speaker, Madhukar Chaudhary, had upheld the point. The issue was simultaneously raised on March 23 in the Legislative Council by BJP members who said that attending the reception would be an antinational act.

Roundly applauded by BJP and Shiv Sena MLAs, Chaudhary directed ministers, legislators and all responsible citizens in official positions and members of the various peace committees to refrain from attending the Pakistan Day celebrations. While the dayis celebrated every year in New Delhi, this was the first time it was commemorated in Bombay,

It is learned that BJP was planning to raise the issue of senior Government Officials and politicians and eyen Vice President K.R.Narayanan attending the Pakistan Day reception in New Delhi But when they saw pictures in the next morning’s newspapers that had a smiling Joshi exchanging pleasantries with Khokhar at the reception, all they had to show was their red faces.

Article extracted from this publication >>  April 2, 1993