A major deviation, says Cong.(I)

By Angana Parekh

NEW DELHI, FEB. 5. The Congress (I) today deplored the Prime Minister's justification of the Gujarat Government order and his statement that since the RSS was a ``social and cultural'' organisation there was nothing wrong in Government servants being allowed to participate in its activities. To describe in such terms an organisation whose worker had assassinated Mahatma Gandhi was ``highly condemnable'', it said.

Mr. Vajpayee's statement marked a ``major deviation'', according to the AICC spokesman, Mr. Anil Shastri. It seemed that Mr. Vajpayee had decided to come out from behind the ``mask''of being a moderate and take the same line as the RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal both to maintain his own position in the BJP and to keep his NDA Government afloat.

The Congress(I) welcomed reports that the President had sought a clarification from the Centre on the Gujarat order. The Government should not stand on prestige on this issue and should immediately rescind the order, Mr. Shastri said. The Congress(I) had received reports from Gujarat that Government staff who did not have RSS leanings feared that they would be victimised.

The party also criticised the Union Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha's statement that a harsh Budget was in the offing. It was incorrect of Mr. Sinha to have made such a statement at this juncture, when the Budget was being formulated, as it could lead to hoarding, blackmarketing and artificial price rise. Any step that was detrimental to the common man and farmers would be opposed tooth and nail, Mr. Shastri said.

On the Constitution review issue, he said the Vajpayee Government had brought it up to revive its sagging popularity. The Government's proposal for a fixed term for the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies would amount to changing the basic structure of the Constitution as it would upset the checks and balances between the legislature and executive. Far from providing stability, such a move would lead to greater instability and ``there would be a new Prime Minister every two months''.

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