CHANDIGARH: M: Sunder Singh Bhandari Vice President of the Bharatiya Janata Party, said recently that unless the militants agreed to give up arms, there should not be any dialogue with them.
Addressing a press conference here, Mr Bhandari, while replying to a question about the militant’s code for the media and to Punjab officers on Punjabi, said the government should not meekly accept any diktat imposed by the militants. The position of Punjabi was different, but if this was imposed anywhere else, it should not be accepted.
The BJP had demanded that the Army should be kept in readiness for the assistance of the civil administration in Punjab. His party did not believe in the policy of bullet for bullet but when the Army would be called for assistance, it would have to act.
He agreed with newsmen that one of the factors that had brought the situation to such a pass was the policy of the V.P.Singh Government.
Referring to Kashmir, he said the democratization process in the state, could not be started unless the migrants were resettled in Kashmir.
Describing the Chandra Shekhar Government as a stopgap arrangement, Mr Bhandari observed that its only aim was to postpone midterm elections as far as possible. It was common cause with the Congress (I) and Janata Dal (S). It could not be called a representative government.
Another peculiar thing was that on the one hand the Congress (I) was supporting the government and on the other it was also seeking the status of the Leader of the Opposition for its leader. In fact, the President should not have allowed the formation of such a government.
It was yet to be seen how the government was going to solve burning questions. It was dillydallying on the Bofors issue.
As regards Ramjamambhoomi, Mr Bhandari remarked that the only difference between the present and previous government was that it was slightly less rigid. However, it was too early to make an assessment of the governments intentions. The government has so far not asked for time on this issue. At the same time a dialogue on the issue was going on and the next meeting had been fixed for January.
He pointed out that the issue (Ram temple) had already been decided as far as the public was concerned, though politicians wanted it to drag it on. He condemned the attempt made to blow up the temple, but described it as the effort of an individual. A satyagraha was going on and hence it had to be decided how the present structure could be shifted to another place.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 4, 1991
