The Hindu : BJP, Cong. dilemma over Vaiko arrest

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 13, 2002

National

National

BJP, Cong. dilemma over Vaiko arrest

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW Delhi July 12. The dilemma before the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress is that while one was the author of the Prevention of Terrorism Act but has described the MDMK leader, Vaiko's arrest under it as ``undesirable and unjustified'', the other opposed the legislation but is clearly not unhappy that the pro-LTTE leader has been put behind the bars.

And a new twist to the story has been given by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, declaring today her intention to try and ban the party itself.

``The arrest has sent a wrong signal about the very purpose of the legislation,'' the BJP president, Venkaiah Naidu, said but added cautiously that ``law will take its own course''. The BJP spokesperson, Arun Jaitely, however, added that the State Government had ``no powers to ban a political party''.

The BJP denied that it had been more ``active'' when the DMK leaders had been arrested last year, pointing out that at that time the situation was different, the Centre had to act, as the Jayalalithaa government had arrested two Central Ministers.

The Congress was a little wary, not wanting to comment on ''wire reports'' that an attempt was being made to ban the MDMK. The party spokesperson, Anand Sharma, said that as far as the principle was concerned every organisation, including political parties, had to function within the ambit of the Constitution and the law of the country.

The BJP, on the other hand, is of the view that banning political parties was itself a dangerous thing. After all, in the system of parliamentary democracy the attempt is always to bring even fringe groups within the ambit of the legitimate political process. This happened in the case of the Akalis (despite the illegal Anandpur resolution), this was also true of some naxalite groups. As far as the Election Commission is concerned, the BJP view is that the Commission could not be allowed to function as an ideological ombudsman.While taking different positions, there is agreement between the BJP and the Congress on one point — whether POTA was applicable to Mr. Vaiko and his partymen would depend on the ''evidence'' against them. The BJP, though, is inclined to think that by this action the AIADMK has already forced the MDMK to give a written explanation on its support to the LTTE, saying it is limited to supporting the cause of Sri Lankan Tamils. That is a political victory for the AIADMK, and the BJP view is that matters should have been left there.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National