CALCUTTA: Former Prime Minister Chandra Shckhar on Feb.7 questioned the capability of Narasimha Rao to function as a Prime Minister and said that “it is good augury” that there was now section in the Congress doubting his intention to fight communalism.
Chandra Shekhar, who is also the leader of the Samajwadi Janata Party leader, told a Press conference that the Prime Minister might face pressure from the rank and file of his party as large sections have rooted for the secularist line. Perhaps Arjun Singh was giving expression to their voice, he said.
Criticizing the Prime Minister’s handling of the Ayodhya issue, Chandra Shekhar said that the Government has abdicated its responsibility to rule the country. “The Prime Minister should come out clean and tell what the facts are which made him so indecisive on such crucial issues.” Referring to the Prime Minister’s statement that he was betrayed by the Kalyan Singh Government in Uttar Pradesh in protecting the Babri mosque, Chandra Shekhar said, “no Prime Minister of a country can be betrayed if he is not ready to be betrayed.”
The BJP, which was “clamoring” for it might reap a “harvest out of communal frenzy,” he said.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 12, 1993
