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Nayar for drive to oust BJP-led Govt.

By Our Staff Reporter

KOLLAM FEB. 25. The columnist, Kuldip Nayar, today called for the creation of a new movement for ousting the BJP-led "oppressive, communal and parochial Government at the Centre''.

He was inaugurating the delegates session of the 34th State Conference of the All India Students Federation (AISF) here.

Mr. Nayar said if during the Emergency in the mid 1970s it was democracy itself which had been targeted for a Government-sponsored derailment, today it was the hallmark concepts of "Indian unity and diversity and the much-acclaimed pluralistic society'' of the nation which were being targeted.

"The Hindu religion known for its cosmopolitan outlook is being systematically disfigured with deliberate intentions of converting it into a monolithic entity by the caucus which has started demanding a Hindu Raj.

Through such acts, they have gone to the extent of justifying the situations which led to the creation of Pakistan," he said.

The situation simply wounds the spirit of the freedom struggle which was also based on the principle that there would be no killings in the name of religion, he said.

Mr. Nayar said while the Hindutva lobby was carrying forward such threats to the basic foundation of Indian independence, what was really dangerous was that there was a total apathy when it came to enthusiasm for countering such movements. He said that most Third World countries were encountering such a phenomenon as was witnessed in the reaction towards a war designed by the U.S. against Iraq. While developed countries were vociferous against the war, the Third World countries were maintaining a puzzling silence.

"This could be on account of a calculative campaign to hide the truth and appears to be successful in such nations. The forces behind the Hindu Raj concept are also exploiting the same trend. The tragedy is that the justifiable anti-Pakistan mood is being unjustifiably translated into anti-Muslim feelings and the Government at the Centre appears to be encouraging such moves because they have no answers for the economic problems," he said.

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