The Hindu : `Secular' parties urged to unite against BJP

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 22, 2002

National

National

`Secular' parties urged to unite against BJP

By Anita Joshua

ALIGARH APRIL 21. An impassioned call to all "secular'' parties to bury their differences and jointly fight the BJP was given at a day-long convention on `Constitutional Order and Gujarat'.

Apart from hauling the "secular'' parties over the coals for their inability to put up a united front against the "unconstitutional'' BJP, a resolution, articulating the need to "resist the assault on the fundamental values on which the nation rests'', was passed unanimously.

The resolution called for the dismissal of the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, an inquiry into his role and that of his Cabinet colleagues in the Gujarat carnage by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court, relief operations to be taken over by the Centre, punitive action against all those who indulged in violence and an immediate end to all attempts to "saffronise" school curriculum.

If the eminent historian, Irfan Habib, challenged the Sangh Parivar's claim to nationalism by chronicling its role or its "absence" during the freedom struggle, journalist Ashutosh of Aaj Tak held the "secular'' parties responsible for the emergence of the BJP as a political force.

The Rajya Sabha MP, M. P. Abdussamad Samadani, said the Prime Minister should practise what he preached and do his `rajdharma' by imposing President's Rule in Gujarat.

Prof. Habib said the Sangh Parivar had been nurturing the "two-nation theory'' through its call for "Hindu, Hindi, Hindustan'' much before the Muslim League had made a demand for Pakistan.

Arif Mohammad Khan, the former Union Minister who recently resigned from the BSP to protest its bid to forge an alliance with the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, made a strong comment against the Bangalore resolution of the RSS and the Prime Minister's Panaji speech.

"Mr. Vajpayee is not the landlord of the country, and we are not his tenants,'' he said urging students to launch a struggle against such "unconstitutional'' forces.

A call for a people's movement was given by Anand Kumar of Jawaharlal Nehru University who said fresh blood should be infused into politics.

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