The Hindu : Secular parties must quit NDA: Gowda

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 09, 2003

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National

Secular parties must quit NDA: Gowda

By S.Rajendran

Bangalore Feb. 7. The former Prime Minister, H.D. Deve Gowda, on Friday castigated the National Democratic Alliance Government at the Centre for "straying from the national agenda on governance and pursuing a BJP and Hindutva agenda'' with an eye on the general elections.

He said the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, and the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, were indulging in double-talk in saying that the NDA Government was committed to the national agenda and simultaneously pursuing the Hindutva agenda and working for the construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya. The Vajpayee Government should either stick to the national agenda on governance or quit office. "The Government has betrayed the voters and its coalition partners. The latter are being taken for granted because of their helplessness in putting up a challenge''.

Mr. Gowda, who said that he was disturbed by the fundamentalist policies and the communal divide that the BJP was perpetrating with vigour, wanted the secular parties within the NDA and outside to unite and put up a stiff fight against the BJP. "It is quite obvious that the BJP President, Venkaiah Naidu, and the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister are committed to pursuing the Hindutva agenda. The several political parties that constitute the NDA have been let down. At least now they should come together with the secular parties, unless they are spineless''.

He said that after reaping the benefits in the Gujarat elections by using the Hindutva card, the NDA Government was now keen on further whipping up emotions by talking in favour of the construction of the Ram temple. The RSS and the BJP leaders were also giving out statements in support of the temple. "The national agenda is now virtually dead and the BJP agenda has taken its place''.

Mr. Gowda said it had come as a rude shock that the Union Government had pleaded before the Supreme Court to vacate the stay order and hand over possession of the undisputed land at Ayodhya for the construction of the temple. Ironically, the Prime Minister had himself stated earlier that the construction of the temple would not be taken up until a final judgment of the Supreme Court or a settlement among the religious leaders was arrived at among the parties to the dispute.

He said the NDA Government should remember that it was voted to power because of its categorical assurance to the electorate that it would keep away from the controversial Ram temple issue, Article 370 and a common civil code and that it would stick to the national agenda on governance.

Referring to the Cauvery row between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and the latest directions of the Supreme Court, Mr. Gowda said the State Government had mishandled the issue and the Union Government had also played its cards to derive political mileage. The factual position, including the plight of the Cauvery basin farmers in the State, had not been taken into consideration resulting in unprecedented sufferings to the people.

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