NEW DELHI: President Dr, Shankar Dayal Sharma has reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to construct both Ram temple and a mosque at the acquired land in Ayodhya and asked political parties to counter the communal propaganda to restore the confidence of the people shaken by the tragic demolition of the mosque.
In his first address to a joint sitting of Parliament, Dr.Sharma said efforts were under way to create conditions for restoring the political process in Kashmir and asked Pakistan to eschew its path of deliberation and provocative confrontation with India.
The address was boycotted by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in protest against the banning of the party’s rally in the Capital on February 25.
Dr.Sharma assured the people of Punjab that the Center was committed to finding a just and amicable solution to all outstanding issues.
He announced that the Government would start residential schools in 48 districts in the country to raise the literacy levels amongst scheduled castes and tribes and setup a Rashtriya Mahila Kosh to meet the short-term and medium term developmental credit needs of poor women in informal sector.
Dr.Sharma said encouraging export in every possible way and to remove all impediments or constraints that affected their growth would be the basic plank of the government policy.
Talking about Ayodhya developments, Dr.Sharma said ‘Government’s endeavor will be to ensure that the construction of temple and the mosque is taken up in consultation and cooperation with the two communities concerned and with the active participation of eminent and responsible leaders of the two communities.
‘The first task before the Government was to restore confidence and communal amity, he said, while asking political parties, intellectuals and opinion leaders to counter the communal propaganda that has been lot loose to help the country to go ahead with the task of nation building.
Stating that the basic premise of secularism and the rule of law had been threatened, Dr.Sharma said “political parties, intellectuals, opinion leaders and others must all strive to counter the communal propaganda that has been let loose so that the country can proceed with the task of reasserting our fundamental rights.
Complementing the security forces for their work in Jammu and Kashmir, he said there has been no letup in the involvement of forces from across the border in training, arming and providing logistic support to the terrorists.
He said that as a first step to address the grievances of the people of the State and to reactivate the political process, a State level multiparty advisory council has been set up to act as a bridge between the administration and the people. India has asked Pakistan to achieve its plan of “deliberate and provocative” confrontation and asserted that there could be no alternative to the process of bilateral dialogue in resolving various issues.
The President said India was making efforts to resolve various bilateral issues despite Pakistan’s continuing support in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.
Regretting that the efforts have unfortunately not made ‘much headway,’ Dr.Sharma urged Pakistan to gain unilateral advancing its relationship with India.
Dr.Sharma, also referred to the two meetings the Prime Minister, P.V.Narasimha Rao had with his counterpart, Nawaz Sharif during the course of the last year in an effort to resolve bilateral issues.
Meanwhile, the Left parties have said President Dr.S.D.Sharma’s address “failed to reflect the intentions” of the Government to deal with the situation faced by the nation on political and economic fronts.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 26, 1993
