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Bound by NDA agenda on Ayodhya till 2004: BJP
By Neena Vyas
The BJP president, Jana Krishnamurthi, addressing the press at the party headquarters in New Delhi on Thursday. - AFP
NEW DELHI, JAN. 31. The Bharatiya Janata Party has made it absolutely clear that its stand on the Ram temple issue is the same as that of the Government even as it left the question wide open for the future, not ruling out the possibility of the party going back to its old stand - it was a matter of faith and therefore beyond the competence of courts - after 2004.
Whatever may have been the BJP's stand earlier, it was now ``bound by the NDA agenda'' and it was ``left with no choice but to respect the court's verdict or a negotiated settlement'', the party president, Jana Krishnamurthi, said here today. As for the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, ``if it refused to abide by a judicial verdict on Ayodhya, it would have to face the legal consequences of this. I am not bothered'', he added.
However, since 1989 when the Ram temple issue had come up on its agenda in Palampur, it had remained ``close to the heart'' of the BJP. Mr. Krishnamurthi was equally frank that ``the biggest restriction'' on the BJP was that the Ram temple was not on the NDA agenda. That meant it would not be on the BJP's agenda till 2004, when the term of the current NDA Government at the Centre ends. After that, it would depend entirely on what alliances the BJP strikes for the next Lok Sabha poll and what is the agreed agenda.
Mr. Krishnamurthi refused to spell out the party's stand in case the VHP took the law into its own hands after March 12. ``We will cross the bridge when we come to it,'' he stated. The party has virtually decided to ignore the sharp attacks made on the Prime Minister at the VHP rally here on January 27. ``We are mature enough to ignore the critics of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister,'' he said.
The press conference addressed by him became a platform for the BJP to explain why it was maintaining a politically correct distance from the VHP on the temple issue even while sending the message that its ``heart'' was with the Ram temple issue. Mr. Krishnamurthi supported the Government's reference to the Law Ministry since there were differing opinions on the interpretation of the Supreme Court's verdict on the acquired land. The Government's stand was ``practical, realistic and best suited for the present circumstances,'' he asserted.
The party has asked the Government to take steps to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles, after the success of Agni-II. It has suggested that in the coming Budget, taxes and levies on agri-inputs be removed to make agri-products cheaper and competitive in the global market. Also, ``slightly higher'' deposit interest rates were needed for older persons, pensioners and small depositors while it has also suggested ``a relief package'' for the urban middle and lower middle class.
On elections, Mr. Krishnamurthi had ``positive feedbacks'' even in Punjab, certainly in Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh where the party workers were ``highly motivated to accept the challenge.''
Mr. Krishnamurthi criticised the Samajwadi Party president, Mulayam Singh Yadav, for his call to lift the ban on SIMI and for giving a terrorist-free certificate to `madrasas' (Islamic religious seminaries) whereas even the Pakistan President had admitted that these were being used wrongly. Such pronouncements would not help him to consolidate the Muslim vote and it would do no good to the minorities.
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