The Hindu : BJP piqued at Waghela's statement

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Oct 25, 2002

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BJP piqued at Waghela's statement

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI OCT. 24. The statement by the Gujarat Congress chief, Shankarsinh Waghela, that if voted to power, the party would invite a "probe'' into the Gujarat massacre by the United States Committee on International Religious Freedom has provoked strong criticism and ridicule from the Bharatiya Janata Party.

India was a "mature democracy" and had been finding its own solutions to its problems and tensions. "At no point have we welcomed certification of our institutions or democracy or secularism from foreign institutions or governments," the BJP general secretary and spokesperson, Arun Jaitley, said today.

Mr. Waghela had "blundered" by saying what he did, Mr. Jaitley said and demanded that the Congress respond and clarify its stand. "Even in Kashmir while we allowed foreign nationals and diplomats to witness the elections, we did not allow official monitoring of the elections by any foreign agency.''

Mr. Jaitley also took strong objection to Mr. Waghela's charge that the Godhra carnage might have been the handiwork of the BJP workers. He specifically objected to the fact that the Congress leader had made such "wild allegations" while on a visit to the U.S.

"For the Congress to go to the United States to make such baseless charges bolsters those mercenaries who perpetrated the ghastly killings and deflects attention from the real killers,'' he said.

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BJP piqued at Waghela's statement