Swamy criticises Jaswant's statement

By Our Staff Reporter

MADURAI, JULY 4. Janata Party president, Dr. Subramanian Swamy, has ``termed as false and hypocritical'' the statement of the External Affairs, Mr. Jaswant Singh, that Indo-Israel relations were ``stunted from developing'' due to Muslim opinion in the country.

In a statement here today, Dr. Swamy said that Mr. Singh had conveniently forgotten that the BJP in the Lok Sabha had held up the proceedings for three days in the first week of January 1991 when the Chandra Shekar Government tried to improve relations with Israel. Earlier, he said, Mr. Vajpayee, as External Affairs Minister, had obstructed the then Prime Minister Morarji Desai's move to establish full diplomatic ties with Israel, after the Camp David Accord in 1978.

He alleged that it was not the Muslim opinion that inhibited Indo-Israeli relations, but the then powerful Soviet lobby in India with which Mr. Vajpayee had sought to curry favour. Mr. Vajpayee supported the Indo-Soviet Treaty in 1971.

After the collapse of USSR, Mr. Narasimha Rao established relations with the Israel. ``To blame Muslim opinion now for the delay is a typical communalist double think of the BJP,'' he said.

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