The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Tuesday, November 19, 2002, Chandigarh, India

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

M A I N N E W S

Motion on Gujarat defeated
Tribune News Service

Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad at Parliament House in New Delhi on Monday. — PTI photo

New Delhi, November 18
The Opposition-sponsored adjournment motion was defeated today by a voice vote with Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani asserting in the Lok Sabha that India can never be converted into a Hindu state, saying that the people would neither condone communal violence nor tolerate pseudo-secularism.

“The BJP and other related organisations should see that the elections are free and fair and that good governance and the safety of minorities are key poll issues,” he said replying to a day-long debate on an Opposition-sponsored adjournment motion on the communal situation in the country, especially Gujarat.

Observing that a new government in Gujarat would be in place before Parliament’s winter session ended, the Deputy Prime Minister said the Godhra carnage under no circumstances should be made an election issue as emphasised by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

He quoted a recent statement by Chief Minister Narendra Modi who said he stood for an educated, irrigated and electrified Gujarat.

Stating that the communal riots and the killing of innocent people earlier this year were a “blot” on the NDA government, Mr Advani rejected the Opposition charge that the minorities in the state were not safe.

“This is a big injustice being done to the people of Gujarat by our detractors who are frequently making such allegations,” he said, dismissing a remark by Congress chief whip P.R. Dasmunshi’s as “loaded”.

Maintaining that there were people in the Opposition who wanted to project that there were differences between him and Mr Vajpayee, Mr Advani asserted “we have walked together for long and will continue to do so.”

Earlier, the Opposition made a blistering attack in the Lok Sabha on the BJP and the Sangh Parivar outfits, charging them with trying to foment trouble in Gujarat ahead of the crucial Assembly elections to polarise society on communal lines for electoral gains. Participating in a discussion on an adjournment motion on the Gujarat situation, some of them even pressed for the detention of controversial VHP leaders like Mr Pravin Togadia until the completion of the poll process. The Opposition held both Prime Minister said and Deputy Prime Minister responsible for the tension-ridden environment in Gujarat.

The motion, moved by CPM member Subodh Roy, was to highlight “failure of the government in curbing communal elements in the country, especially in Gujarat”.

Mr Roy, who initiated the discussion, and Congress MP Pravin Rashtrapal faulted the BJP and the Sangh Parivar outfits for attacking the constitutional authorities like the Election Commission and alleged these were “fascist” tactics.

Countering the Opposition charges, BJP chief whip V.K. Malhotra accused the Congress of attempting to polarise the people in Gujarat for the sake of power. Alleging that the Congress had a “tainted record”, he said the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi in 1984 were a clear indicator in this regard.

Certain provocative remarks by Mr Malhotra against the Congress led to acrimonious scenes with the Congress members protesting and making counter accusations.

Pointing out to the recently held poll survey's predicting the defeat of the Congress in the elections, Mr Malhotra alleged that the Congress was speaking in the same tone as that of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on the developments in Gujarat.

Denouncing the language used by Mr Togadia against the leader of the Opposition, Ms Sonia Gandhi, Mr Rashtrapal said if such words had been used against his mother, he would have killed that person.

The Congress member asked the Prime Minister and other Central leaders to rein in provocative language and actions of leaders of the VHP.

Stoutly opposing this, the Congress chief whip said his party president was among the first to condemn the incident.

Mr Dasmunsi attacked Mr Advani saying that he “rode the tiger” of communalism during his Ayodhya march from Somnath. The same passions were now being whipped up and he was finding it difficult to act against the “communal” forces like the VHP and the Bajrang Dal, he said.

Opposing the resolution, BJP member Bhavna Chikhalia said the situation in Gujarat was peaceful and conducive for holding the elections and claimed that her party would return with a thumping majority in the poll.

Samajadi Party MP Ramjilal Suman also demanded invoking of POTA against VHP leaders. He accused the BJP of “whipping up communal passions to stay in power for some more days”.

Civil Aviation Minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain lashed out at the Congress, accusing it of being responsible for many communal riots in the country since Independence and for backwardness of Muslims.

Mr P.A. Sangma of the Nationalist Congress Party said Gujarat had no parallel in history and quoted NHRC Chairman Justice J.S. Verma to say that it was nothing short of a war in terms of the suffering and misery undergone by those affected by the riots.

Mr Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (RJD), said it was wrong to say that the violence in Gujarat would not have happened if the Godhra incident had not taken place. “I say if Modi had not been Chief Minister neither Godhra nor the violence thereafter would have taken place.”