The Hindu : Paswan accuses Vajpayee, Advani of doublespeak

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 04, 2003

National

National

Paswan accuses Vajpayee, Advani of doublespeak

By Our Special Correspondent

CHANDIGARH AUG. 3. The former Union Minister and Lok Jan Shakti party supremo, Ram Bilas Paswan, today accused the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and his Deputy, L.K.Advani, of `doublespeak' and charged them with making conflicting and provocative statements on the Ayodhya tangle and `Hindutwa.'

Addressing a press conference here this evening, the Dalit leader challenged the Vajpayee regime to get its agenda on construction of Ram Temple at Ayodhya and the Common Civil Code passed by the Cabinet or Parliament.

Mr. Paswan asserted that the remarks made by Mr.Vajpayee while participating in the cremation of Ramchandra Paramhansa at Ayodhya recently were not in proper order and clearly reflected that he was "wearing a mask of the RSS.'' It may be recalled that both Mr.Vajpayee and Mr.Advani had asserted that the Ram Temple would be constructed at the disputed site at Ayodhya.

Referring to Mr.Vajpayee's clarification issued today that there is no change in the Government's position on the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya and the issue could be resolved by both the communities by reaching a settlement or awaiting the Court's verdict clearly indicated that either the Prime Minister was suffering from poor memory or he was prone to change his statements often. Mr.Paswan said that the opposition parties had given requests for an Adjournment motion to the Speaker for tomorrow on the "doublespeak '' by the BJP and its allies on sensitive issues like the Ayodhya tangle. He further charged that the Prime Minister and his Deputy were responsible for the demolition of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya.

While asserting that the BJP was communalising the country, he also accused it of influencing the Central Bureau of Investigation in dropping charges against Mr.Advani and the Union Human Resource Development Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi, relating to their alleged role in the demolition of the Babri Masjid. He demanded that the two Ministers should be removed from the Cabinet immediately.

Mr. Paswan also sharply flayed the authorities of the PGI here for demolishing a Guru Ravi Dass Temple allegedly on the grounds that it was an unauthorized one. He charged that six other temples in the vicinity were not touched at all. Likewise, the authorities had demolished a 50-year -old Ravi Dass Temple at R.K.Puram in New Delhi yesterday while 37 other temples in the vicinity were not touched. While alleging that the BJP spokesman, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, had reportedly asked the authorities to demolish the temple in Delhi, he said he would raise these issues in Parliament tomorrow. He also announced that his party would organize a protest demonstration outside Parliament on August 6 against the discrimination against Dalits. The Parliament would also take up for discussion the atrocities against Dalits at Dulina in Haryana and Talhan in Punjab and elsewhere in the country after the issues were raised by him.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National