LUCKNOW: Lal Krishna Advani said his pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party hoped to emerge as the single largest party in the midterm elections this month and would be able to form a government in New Delhi.

The BJP would also form its own government in Uttar Pradesh the BJP leader claimed.

In Karnataka Advani said the Party would secure a “positive” vote and its winning tally would reach the double digit.

Advani who arrived here e early Wednesday after a hectic tour of western Uttar Pradesh told a news conference the BJP had moved far ahead of its two main electoral rivals the Congress-I and the Janata Dal.

He also criticized the Congress I and the Janata Dal and said the “appeasement policy” so far followed by the Congress (I) vis-a-vis the minorities had not solved any problem.

The “Fatwa” issued by the Shahi Imam of Delhi Abdullah Bukhari appealing to Muslims to vote for the Janata Dal had created a sharp reaction among the majority Hindu community he said.

Advani said the BJP was not fighting against Muslims or any other community but against the “pseudo-secularism” of the Congress (I) and the Leftist parties.

BAHRAICH: Bharatiya Janata Party leader Lal Krishna Advani said that his party if came to power in this month’s elections would take firm measures to check the incidence of communal violence and punish the guilty whether he was a Hindu or Muslim.

He however made no mention of his party’s resolve to demolish a 15th century mosque and build a temple in its place

Addressing a series of election meeting in northern and central Uttar Pradesh Advani said any attempt to foment communal tension would be strongly dealt with.

Assuring the people that it would take all steps to ensure that communal disturbance did not occur anywhere in the country Advani made a frontal attack on various political parties for “pursuing a politics of vote banks’ during the last 44 years.

The political parties except the BJP had always treated the Muslims as “vote commodity” and they were never considered “as human beings” Advani said adding that this was one of the main factors which had kept them backwards in all sphere of activities.

He held the U.P. chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav as responsible for the communal riots in the state and said those were the results of his inflammatory speeches.

The BJP leader claimed that he saw a wave for his party as was witnessed in 1971 and 1984 for the Congress (I) and in 1977 for the Janata Party

Article extracted from this publication >> May 24, 1991