Journalist: Mr. Ambassador, a 10 day anti-pollution ceremony was performed at Bhopal to pacify the gods and to prevent another chemical gas leak.
Ambassador: That’s right.
Journalist: In this government sponsored ritual, 2.5 million offerings were made to a pantheon of 640 million Hindu gods, according to Swami Swaroopan and Saraswati.
Ambassador: Very correct.
Journalist: What sort of secularisms in India where government officially observes only Hindu rituals? What about the large number of Muslim and Christian souls who also fell victim of the gas leak? Will no ceremony be officially sponsored to seek peace for their souls?
Ambassador: Not in national interest to disclose.
Journalist: Mr. Ambassador, Rajiv Gandhi reportedly assured Members of Parliament from Punjab, who called upon him to press for the transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab on January 26, that the accord would be implemented on schedule,
Ambassador: That’s right.
Journalist: It is also reported that the Central government has ordered a snap census of Abohar and Fazilka areas to determine the language spoken there. The staff for this purpose is also being sent from Delhi.
Ambassador: Very correct.
Journalist: Don’t you think Mathew Commission refused to accept 1981 census report as valid simply because it shows 80% of the population of these areas as Punjabi speaking? Is it not a conspiracy to declare these Punjabi speaking areas as Hindi speaking to make Haryana a riparian state to justify its claim to Punjab river waters?
Ambassador. Not in national interest to disclose
Journalist: Mr. Ambassador, Punjab Chief Minister, S. Surjit Singh Barnala has claimed that the Rasto Roko call of AISSF flopped.
Ambassador: That’s right.
Journalist: But press reports tell a different story. According to these reports the call was a total success except at stray places.
Ambassador: Very correct.
Journalist: How is it that Barnala has arraigned his guns against the AISSF and forgotten his own commitment to get all the detained Sikhs released and army deserters rehabilitated? Is he not speaking the same language as used to be spoken by Darbara Singh when he was the Chief Minister?
Ambassador: Not in national interest to disclose.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 17, 1986
