The Hindu : My stand on Ayodhya vindicated: V. P. Singh

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 20, 2002

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My stand on Ayodhya vindicated: V. P. Singh

ALLAHABAD, FEB. 19. The former Prime Minister, V. P. Singh, today said his stand on the Ayodhya dispute had been vindicated by the Bharatiya Janata Party which had accepted that the issue could be solved either through a dialogue or a court verdict. ``The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, has echoed my stand on the Ayodhya issue... What he has finally said was already said by me 12 years ago,'' Mr. Singh told newspersons here.

Referring to Mr. Vajpayee's observation last week that he had ``failed'' to resolve the Ayodhya issue and that only the court verdict would have a final say in the matter, Mr. Singh said his Government had also favoured the resolution of the issue through a dialogue or the court verdict.

The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Rajnath Singh, had also accepted his suggestion on the implementation of the Mandal Commission report. ``He is now favouring reservation in the Government jobs to the Backwards, Most Backwards and the Dalits.'' Charging the Centre with complacency in matters of national security, Mr. Singh asked ``why weren't any preliminary security arrangements made at the Parliament House complex when Intelligence inputs had already been received in this regard?''

Terrorism was not new for the country and had taken the lives of Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. However, the terrorists could kill political leaders but not the spirit of the nation, he said.

- UNI

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