The Hindu : BJP to Modi: Don't quit but dissolve Assembly

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 13, 2002

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BJP to Modi: Don't quit but dissolve Assembly

By Neena Vyas

PANAJI (GOA) APRIL 12. The Bharatiya Janata Party today rejected the resignation offer of the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, even while "advising'' him to "seek dissolution of the Assembly''. Thereby, it tried to silence its critics among allies and in the Opposition as well as fully satisfy its Hindutva constituency and cadre.

The resignation offer was made by Mr. Modi earlier in the afternoon immediately after the party president, Jana Krishnamurthi, made his opening remarks at the national executive committee of the party. It was then decided to discuss the issue in detail later in the evening and take a decision. The decision was rejecting the resignation offer and suggesting a fresh mandate after dissolving the Assembly.

``Go to the people and seek their verdict,'' the party told Mr. Modi through a resolution on Godhra and its Aftermath that was adopted unanimously by the national executive committee meeting of the party in its second session on the opening day. Mr. Krishnamurthi justified the stand at a press conference where the resolution was released saying that in a democracy the "people are supreme''.

The indication that something like this was coming was available when Mr. Krishnamurthi aggressively defended the Gujarat Government in the afternoon. And certainly by the time the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, launched a major offensive against "jehadi Islam" at a public meeting held before the second session of the executive where Gujarat was discussed, it became clear that the entire drama of the resignation offer had been carefully set-up, perhaps at the prompting and ''advise'' of the Union Law Minister, Arun Jaitley. He had airdashed to Gandhinagar on Thursday night from New Delhi before coming here.

Mr. Krishnamurthi blamed the Congress for the BJP decision to "advise'' Mr. Modi to dissolve the Legislature and seek a fresh mandate. He referred to the Congress conclave in Guwahati and said that "never before had a decision been taken by a party to launch a nationwide agitation for the ouster of a Chief Minister in which other Chief Ministers would lead.'' He also flatly denied that the BJP had ever demanded the resignation of an elected Chief Minister, quite forgetting the demands made by it for the resignation of the Rabri Devi Government in Bihar or the demand by the Trinamul Congress for the sacking of the West Bengal Government just before the Assembly elections in that State.

The party executive discussed Gujarat for about an hour late in the evening when it unanimously adopted a resolution on Godhra and its Aftermath. The resolution expressed full confidence in Mr. Modi's ability to face the challenge in the State through "effective action'' and it mentioned the recent panchayat polls and high school board examinations held in the State as proof that the situation was returning to normalcy. It also said the Gujarat police had arrested 11,000 persons on criminal charges and detained 16,000. \

Already, 3400 first information reports had been filed, and 139 persons had been killed in police firing — further proof of the "action'' taken by the State Government.

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