M A I N   N E W S

PM joins issue with Sonia
Says Congress misleading Dalits
From Yoginder Gupta and Rahul Dass
Tribune News Service

AMBALA, Feb 20 — The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, today justified the setting up of the Constitution Review Commission, saying the Constitution was not “inanimate”.

It had been amended several times in the past and could be changed again. “But its basic structure concerning the democratic set-up and secularism will remain intact,” he declared.

Mr Vajpayee, addressing an election meeting here today in support of BJP-INLD nominees, said Mrs Sonia Gandhi had raised an unnecessary controversy on the subject. The Congress was “misleading” the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes by saying that the BJP wanted to tinker with Dr Ambedkar’s Constitution. The Prime Minister said it could not have been the intention of Dr Ambedkar to have a non-amendable Constitution.

Mrs Gandhi had alleged during her visit to Haryana yesterday that the Constitution was being reviewed with evil designs. Mr Vajpayee chose to answer her criticism in Haryana itself.

He said the review panel was without political bias and had legal luminaries as its members. Its recommendations would be placed before Parliament which would adopt these only after deliberations and with a majority.

Responding to another allegation levelled by Mrs Gandhi, he said it was ridiculous to say that the BJP was being controlled by the RSS. The BJP and its coalition partners were patriots, but the Congress wanted the coalition partners and the people to fight among themselves.

In Punjab, where the BJP and the Akali Dal were coalition partners, there was complete communal harmony and peace now after a decade of turbulence. He said it was common knowledge who had been behind this turbulence.

Similarly, during the Congress regime, there was a language agitation in the South. Now the DMK was BJP’s coalition partner. He also blamed the Congress for adopting double standards in Bihar.

The Prime Minister, who was accompanied by the Chief Ministers of Punjab and Haryana, Mr Parkash Singh Badal and Mr Om Prakash Chautala, respectively, kept mum on the vexed issue of the SYL canal and other inter-state disputes. He mentioned that social issues would be taken up in Haryana. Its water problem would be solved. He did not elaborate how this would be done. A concerted campaign needed to be launched to improve the education system, he said.

Stressing the need to accelerate the pace of social justice, Mr Vajpayee said since the NDA government was now not worried about stability, it would change its policies to ensure speedy social justice.

During his 30-minute speech, Mr Vajpayee said if the Congress was voted to power in Haryana, it would adopt a confrontationist attitude with the Centre, which would be harmful to the interests of the state. He also criticised the Congress for not projecting a candidate for chief ministership. He assured the people of Haryana that the Centre would be liberal in granting aid to state for its development.

Mr Badal said it was due to the wrong policies of the Congress, which ruled the country for about 45 years, that the people of the country were poor though the nation was rich in natural resources. Highlighting various achievements of the Chautala government, he cautioned the people not to misutilise good schemes like old-age pension.

Mr Chautala said the INLD wanted the development of Haryana in cooperation with the Centre. He said if one compared the candidates of the INLD and the BJP with those of the Congress, one would find that the alliance candidates enjoyed better reputation and image. He ridiculed the Congress for projecting several persons as possible chief ministers.

He said the party had fielded all 10 leaders who had lost the recent Lok Sabha elections. They would face defeat once again, he claimed.

PANIPAT: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Sunday said the Opposition parties, particularly the Congress,were trying to create confusion among the people on the issue of Constitution review through “false” propaganda. Mr Vajpayee said it had been over 50 years since the Constitution was framed and it was time now to see whether there were any shortcomings in it.

Addressing an election meeting here, Mr Vajpayee cited the example of the anti-defection law which was brought into force to discourage defections by the elected representatives of the people but was being exploited by politicians due to the prevalent lacunae. “The government wants to remove such shortcomings during its review of the Constitution and give such laws more teeth,’’ the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister said Pakistan after its humiliation in the Kargil conflict could not be trusted, even though it was pleading for a dialogue with India. “Pakistan says it wants to talk over the Kashmir issue. But the message from our side is very clear. The only aspect we want to talk over is the handing back of the occupied Kashmir (PoK). This one-third part of Kashmir which has been forcibly encroached upon by Pakistan should be handed back to us since the people there want to remain with India,’’ he said.

PALWAL: Mr Vajpayee on Sunday declared that the anti-defection law would be given more teeth to end the menace of “Aya Rams Gaya Rams”.

Addressing an election meeting on the conclusion of the campaign for the Haryana Vidhan Sabha elections here this evening, Mr Vajpayee said an MP or MLA elected on the ticket of a particular party would lose membership of the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha if he changed loyalty. He will have to seek re-election” he explained.

He said this was necessary as the present law passed during the Congress rule was ineffective.