Front Page
PM shrugs off temple construction threat
By Our Special Correspondent
A mason giving final touches to a pillar for the proposed Ram temple at Karsevak Puram in Ayodhya on Monday. - AFP
NEW DELHI, FEB. 11. The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, more or less shrugged off the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's threat of starting the Ram temple construction from March 15 in Ayodhya. He suggested that he was not much bothered by the threat and like everyone else, he too had read about the threat in the newspapers but had not talked to any VHP leader about it.
Mr. Vajpayee was interacting with a group of mediapersons who had organised themselves to cover his election rally in western Uttar Pradesh today; but since the bad weather forced the cancellation of the rally, both the Prime Minister and the scribes had plenty of time at their hand. Mr. Vajpayee's media managers thoughtfully arranged for the stranded mediapersons a tea session with him.
Asked whether the VHP threat would hurt the BJP's poll prospects in Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Vajpayee observed that it would ``neither bolster the BJP's poll prospects, nor will it prove to be detrimental because everybody knows about our attitude towards the temple issue''. He also confirmed that the Law Minister was yet to send any report on the legal issues involved in the transfer of undisputed land to the Ram Janmabhoomi Trust.
Later in a press statement, Mr. Vajpayee also felt it necessary to clarify that he had never suggested a moratorium on a discussion on security-related issues during the campaign. Rather curiously, Mr. Vajpayee today seemed to have become alert to the fact that his statement in Raipur on January 28 was being ``misinterpreted in certain political circles''. Mr. Vajpayee conceded that ``parties in the Opposition have every right to raise such matters and criticise the Government, provided their criticism is based on facts, and not on untruths and insinuations. My Government fully respects this right and has no intention whatsoever of muzzling a healthy and responsible debate''.
But he prefaced this remark with a stout defence of his Defence Minister, George Fernandes, in the so-called ``Coffin scam.'' He also asserted that any comparison between the Bofors controversy and the casket-gate was untenable. He pointed out that in the Bofors case ``investigation so far has clearly established that illegal commissions were paid'' and that ``the law will take its course in this matter, unhindered by any political considerations''.
Mr. Vajpayee's statement suggests that the BJP is getting increasingly worried that the Congress campaign on this issue is finding some takers, especially in Uttaranchal. Since almost every household in Uttaranchal has a army ``connection'' the Congress allegations of wrongdoing in import of coffins during the Kargil conflict were causing concern to the BJP election managers.
``Such false allegations, especially in a sensitive matter concerning those who have laid down their lives in defence of our Motherland, can demoralise the jawans and officers of our armed forces. Never in the history of independent India have such false allegations been made at a time when our troops have been deployed on the borders,'' he said.
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Front Page
|
