DEENDAYALPURAM (SARNATH): The senior BIP leader, L-K.Advani, termed the performance of the P.V. Narasimha it Rao government on the political it front “very disappointing.” But he lauded the Prime Minister for breaking free from the Nehruvian model for economic development.
Speaking to reporters on the second day of the party’s three K day national executive meeting here, at length on the perceived failures of the Rao government in an apparent bid to dilute the impression that the BIP was hand in-glove with the Congress.
“According to him, the Rao government was continuing in the distorted political thinking followed in the past as well. Such a distortion had manifested itself in the problems in Punjab, Kashmir and Assam and the appeasement of the minorities. The Rao government had not mustered the required courage to overcome these distortions which it had inherited, he lamented.
“The governments work in the political field has been very dis appointing Instead of adopting a fresh approach, Rao is taking of considering granting specialties— to Punjab . He also spoke about giving statutory status to the minority’s commission in his reply to the debate on the President’s address even though the address made no such mention,” Advani stated,
The Prime Minister’s remarks during a recent interview about granting special status to Punjab had been made at a time when the IP was demanding that Article 370 be scrapped, he pointed out,
About statutory status to the minority’s commission, he said, the government would require a two-third majority to give it constitutional status and this was not possible given the current configuration in the Lok Sabha. The BJP would strongly oppose any such Bill in the House, he added.
“The Rajiv Gandhi government made a big mistake in 1985 in the Shahbano case, The Rao government will commit an equally big mistake if the Prime Ministers announcement on the minorities commission is implemented. The BJP will urge him to reconsider this and instead accept our suggestion to set up human rights commission,” Advani said.
According to him, creating a composite riot force, as mentioned in the President’s address, would introduce the communal virus into the police force.
In reply to a question, Advani said he did not think that amid term lection was in the offing,
In a detailed resolution on the Kashmir problem, the national executive lauded the party president, Dr .M. M Joshi, on his Ecta Yaura and praised the security forces for supposedly openly identifying themselves with the exercise. Such identification had compelled the “hostile political leadership” in New Delhi to refrain from obstructing the Yatra, the resolution said.
Weeding out pro-Pakistan elements in the state administration and declaring Pakistan a terrorist country by the international community are part of the seven-point charter of demands outlined by the executive. Other demands relate to creation of separate region a councils for Jammu and Ladakh, checking the spread of separatist activity to Doda, Poonch and Rajour districts, strengthening the official propaganda machinery abroad and providing machinery abroad and providing adequate relief to Kashmiri refugees. “Instead of realizing that the time. is right for doing away with Article 370 and thereby ending indirect encouragement to fence-sitters and subversive elements in the state, some misguided individuals and groups continue to favor a return to the pre-1953 arrangements whereby Jammu and Kashmir sties with the Union will become even more tenuous than they are today. The Union government also continues to argue, in the face of facts to the contrary, that Article 370 represents a solemn commitment to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
The national executive egrets that though Article 370 was intended to be temporary and transient, and that though even Pandit Nehru had apologetically spoken of its gradual erosion, the present government had chosen to refer to it as a solemn commitment to the people of Kashmir. For pseudo secular parties, the recent apology for Article 370 has been replaced by allegiance,” the resolution stated,
On the “government-sponsored chaos” in Bihar, as Advani put it, the executive is likely to adopt a resolution. He denied that the party had marginalized the Ayodhya jesos,
Article extracted from this publication >> March 27, 1992
