SARNATH: The BJP leader, AB. Vajpayee, demanded a total review of Center state relations under then changed circumstances and said the states should be given more autonomy, especially in the field of developmental activities, Releasing the political resolution adopted by the national executive of the party on the concluding day here, Vajpayee emphasized the need for speedy implementation of the Sarkaria Committee report ‘on Center state relations even though it was “not radical
Asked what in his view was “radical”, he said it included all subjects except three important ‘ones Defence, external affairs and Communications. He however, hastened to add that the BJP was opposed to it and the states, 100 did not want such a radical me: sure. All that they wanted was ‘adequate Funds to carry. Vajpayee pointed out that the political resolution did not demand imposition of Presidiums rule in Bihar even though Bihar was now “under mafia rule.” “For the Common mafi”, there is no protection of fief, limb and dignity. All developmental work is at a ‘stand still,” he said. Vajpayee announced that party president Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi would visit Bihar on March 26 to study the situation. The state unit had ‘been demanding imposition of President’s rule and the final decision had been left 19 Dr Joshis Before Dr Josh’s visit, delegation of BJP MPs would meet Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao to “urge him to call for a report from the Bihar Governor on the latest Jaw and order situation there. ‘When a correspondent pointed out that a report had already been received, Vajpayee said, “Let the ‘Center place it on the table of the House. Referring to the recently concluded Punjab elections, Vajpayee said the BJP would like to caution the nation that in the countermanding of the elections there in 1991, “we have done that which in the coming decades is going to ‘haunt our polity. In that folly lays the genesis of the elections of 1992.” ‘The resolutions expressed “great regret” that these elections were boycotted by the Akalis. This had given to the election results an inbuilt fragility and imbalance. In tum, the Congress had failed to respond to the situation with the required magnanimity of political approach, choosing yet again to place party interests above all. It said since the Congress came to power at the Center, Punjab and Haryana, the responsibility of implementing the Longowal accord was its. According to the BJP the implementation of the accord would be a positive step towards the restoration of political normally in Punjab.
In this connection, Vajpayee said the proposed package before the Punjab elections included a demand from the Akalis that Article 356 not be implemented in Punjab and the talks failed when the Center did not agree to the demand. While the BP was against the “misuse” ‘of this article, it was in favour of using it “sparingly.”
Speaking about Bihar, Vajpayee, who had toured the state for three days, visiting the areas where massacre had taken place, said there was a “clear nexus” between the Marxist Coordination Committee (MCC) and the ruling Janata Dal in the state. “We have reasons to believe that the Congress was also utilizing the MCC in certain pockets.
Describing the Center’s performance as “extremely dismal”, the resolution sad irresponsible management of the internal polity by the Congress had left a “burdening sores” of this legacy were the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Assam. It was a matter of concern to the BJP national executive that in addressing itself to the talks in these three strategically sensitive border states of the nation, the present Congress government was not displaying cither the “required clarity of policy or the expected firmness in the execution of i,” the resolution noted.
It said apart from its object fail true to deal with terrorism in the three states, it had let Naxalite violence in Andhra and elsewhere “grow at an alarming pace.”
Illegal immigration into Assam, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Gujarat had been continuing. There had been reports from ‘Kamataka of political corruption.
“All that the Congress had done in Kamataka is to exacerbate the Cauvery dispute, raise public passions and create yet another ‘area of discord,” the resolution said. ‘Speaking about Assam, it wanted to know from the Center the current status of the so called “talks about talks” with ULFA.
Their solution demanded that the Language issue in Manipur must be controlled by including Manipuri and Nepali Gorkhali in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution,
‘The executive complimented the four states run by the BJP for having controlled the law and order situation and said it “proudly claims” that compared to the ‘massive electoral rigging in states like Bihar, West Bengal and ‘Andhra, elections held in BJP ruled states had been “conspicuously free of this evil of rigging.”
Article extracted from this publication >> March 27, 1992
