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Cong. rejects VHP demand

By Javed M. Ansari

NEW DELHI FEB. 23. The Congress today refused to rise to the VHP's bait, and rejected outright its demand that the party support it in the construction of the Ram temple. "We will go by the verdict of the courts, and there is no question of responding to their call,'' said the CWC member, Pranab Mukherjee.

The VHP and its Dharam Sansad on Sunday, had called on the Congress not to forget its past, and help in the construction of the Ram temple. Jaipal Reddy, Congress spokesperson, promptly debunked the call. "We are of the view that only the court verdict is the way out,'' he said.

Senior Congress leaders believe that both the VHP and the BJP are working in concert and have called on the Government to discharge its duty and go exactly by the law. "What the Government is doing amounts to leaning on the side of one of the interested parties. All of it is being done for political gains,'' says a senior AICC functionary.

Conscious of the Sangh Parivar's attempts to brand it an `anti-Hindu' party, the Congress appears keen to draw a distinction between its "principled" stand on the temple issue and that of the BJP. "We are not against Hindus or any other religion, but we are clearly against mixing temporal and spiritual issues,'' Mr. Mukherjee said.

Senior party leaders also debunk charges of the Congress changing tack and opting for the soft Hindutva line. "It is absolutely untrue. We are wedded to secularism, there can be no compromise on the issue. The Congress will not exist if it is not secular," Mr. Mukherjee said. But he was quick to point out that being secular did not in anyway mean that it was against any religion.

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