Journalist: Mr. Ambassador, Home Minister in his address to the nation has squarely blamed Sikh freedom fighters for the series of bomb explosions in Northern India.
Ambassador: That’s right.
Journalist: More than ten days ago government had claimed that the Punjab border was most effectively sealed. So intense and elaborate was the patrolling and vigilance that no activist could cross over.
Ambassador: Very correct.
Journalist: How is it that the Home Minister is still blaming the Sikhs? Don’t you think it could be the handiwork of Hindu fundamentalist organizations who are determined to get the Sikhs persecuted and killed through State agencies like Police and Army by projecting them as disruptionists?
Ambassador: Not in national interest to disclose.
Journalist: Mr. Ambassador, Congress (I) member Parliament, Khushwant Singh, has in a press interview said that he informed the Prime Minister of the large scale infiltration of Pakistan trained Sikhs into the capital five days before the explosions.
Ambassador: That’s right.
Journalist: He has also said that according to his latest intelligence, the Sikh activists have left for Patna Sahib in Bihar after playing havoc in Delhi and surrounding States.
Ambassador: Very correct.
Journalist: How is it that Khushwant Singh knows more than the Indian intelligence? Do you think there could be some kind of link between him and the bomb exploders, which in other words means link with the Congress (I)?
Ambassador: Not in national interest to disclose.
Journalist: Mr. Ambassador, Calcutta High Court has admitted a petition by two Hindus seeking ban on Muslim sacred scripture, KORAN SHARIF, alleging that it contains references that offend Hindu sensibilities.
Ambassador: That’s right.
Journalist: There are other scriptures like Adi Granth of the Sikhs and Bible of Christians which Hindus may find repugnant.
Ambassador: Very correct.
Journalist: Don’t you think it is only a beginning towards getting all those religious scriptures banned that do not conform to the taste and temper of fundamentalist Hindus? Don’t you think this trend is the direct result of Central government’s naked patronage of Hinduism at the cost of other religions?
Ambassador: Not in National interest to disclose.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 17, 1985
