HISAR: The Haryana Chief Minister, Bhajan Lal, said here on Feb.20, that riots would break out all over the country if the Babri masjid was rebuilt at the disputed site; He was speaking at a public meeting after laying the foundation stone of an overbridged.

The Chief Minister said that he had conveyed his views on the matter at the party for an also. He said if the mosque was to be rebuilt, it had to be located away from the disputed site, The construction of a Ram temple, according to him, could be undertaken by the government or a trust. He also pleaded for the declaration of Ayodhya as a Union territory.

He denied that the Congress I was opposed to the construction of a Ram temple and reminded people that the “shilanayas” ceremony was performed during the Rajiv Gandhi regime. He said Gandhi had appointed a committee to resolve the temple mosque controversy. A solution was round the corner, but the declaration of elections stalled it.

Bhajan Lal said the country was passing through a very delicate phase, the communal situation was alarming. The BJP rally at Delhi, scheduled for February 25, could therefore create an explosive situation leading to a recurrence of riots. Left with no choice, the Center had banned the rally. He urged the people to stay away from it and dissuade those who had planned to attend it.

The Chief Minister said nobody could object to a party propagating its own ideology in a democratic setup. The BJP policies, according to him, had created a situation which was akin to the one prevailing in 1947, He said the BJ Pused to criticize the Akalis for operating from gurdwaras, but it also was resorting to the same tactics now.

The Chief Minister revealed that the width of all state highways would be increased from 18 feet to 22 feet, while that of other roads from 12 feet to 18 feet. The national highway linking Delhi with Chandigarh would be four-laned up to Ambala. The Delhi Jaipur highway running through the state would be made four laned, while the national highway no.10 would be four laned from Bahadugarh to Dabwali in three phases. Rohtak and Fatehabad would be covered in the first and second phase, respectively.

Referring to the four laneing projects, Bhajan Lal mentioned the name of a former chief minister and alleged that he demanded Rs5 crore from a company which had been given contract for one of them. He said it would have been all night in the case of an Indian company. But this one being a foreign, the man was only disappointed.

Bhajan Lal said the deal fell through and the entire four lancing work came to a standstill. He said the firm was reluctant to resume the work later. However, his threat to blacklist the company worked and it take up the work again.

Those who spoke at the function included the PWD Minister, Anand Singh Dangi, and the Minister of State for Tourism, Lila Krishan, and the Minister of State for Technical Education, Chatrapal

Singh.

Article extracted from this publication >>  February 26, 1993