Date:20/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/20/stories/2008092060201300.htm

National

BJP: advisories sent under Article 355

Special Correspondent

Alleges that the action is politically motivated and highly prejudiced

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday took strong objection to the Union government sending strong advisories, under what it called Article 355, to the Karnataka and Orissa governments. It said the action was politically motivated and highly prejudiced.

While the party’s view was expressed by its spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, on the sidelines of a workshop on implications of climate change, made the same point. He used almost the same words of Mr. Prasad.

The BJP alleged that Article 355 was used to send the advisories to the States because the BJP was a coalition partner in Orissa and ruling in Karnataka. No such directive was given to Assam where Hindi-speaking people were targeted and became victims of large-scale violence, it alleged.

Mr. Prasad said in West Bengal too, the Centre did not use Article 355 when members of the ruling party were involved in violence in Nandigram. Article 355 is often used as a warning before using Article 356 for dismissing a government for not functioning as per the Constitution.

Mr. Prasad also mentioned Maharashtra, where Hindi-speaking people were targeted. The Congress is leading the government in the State, although it was the Shiv Sena and its breakaway faction that were leading the agitation with ‘Marathi manoos’ as its cause.

Both Mr. Prasad and Mr. Modi parried questions on the activities of the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in Karnataka and Orissa.

In fact Mr. Prasad said: “We do not buy the argument that the Bajrang Dal is in the wrong.”

Mr. Prasad claimed that the Chief Ministers of Orissa and Karnataka took steps to curb the violence against Christians — over 600 persons were arrested in Orissa and 163 in Karnataka.

The violence in Orissa was ignited by the murder of a “swami.” In Karnataka, provocative literature was the reason for the attacks on Christians, he said and specifically mentioned the neo-Christian movement in Karnataka.

“Vote-bank politics”

The BJP’s charge was that the Congress was once again playing “vote-bank politics,” although in this instance the victims of the attacks were Christians, who constitute a very small minority.