M A I N   N E W S

Law on temple may figure at BJP meet
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 15
In an obvious attempt to please every possible constituency of the Ayodhya issue, the Bharatiya Janata Party today again hinted at taking up the issue of a parliamentary legislation for the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya at its Raipur meeting of the National Executive beginning Friday.

Notwithstanding Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani’s assertion in Nagpur on Sunday that the NDA government did not have the numbers in Parliament to enact a law on Ram temple, BJP spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi today did not rule out the possibility of a legislation being discussed at Raipur.

Mr Naqvi, briefing mediapersons about a meeting held at BJP President M Venkaiah Naidu’s residence which discussed the agenda of the Raipur executive, said for the first time since its crucial 1989 Palampur conclave, all aspects of the Ayodhya issue, including “legislation”, would be taken up at the meeting.

Although the National Executive is likely to debate the Ayodhya issue to elicit the views of all sections of the party, it is unlikely that the party would come out with a separate resolution on Ayodhya, sources said.

Instead, the party is likely to devote a few paragraphs to Ayodhya in the main political resolution itself.

The issue of Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin, reservation for the poor among forward castes, quota in the private sector as demanded recently by the Congress, and women’s reservation are likely to figure prominently at the meeting to be attended, among others, by Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee and Mr Advani.

The decision to include the Ayodhya issue in the agenda, which was finalised at a meeting of top party leaders, including Mr Advani, here this morning, comes close on the heels of the meeting of the Sangh Parivar top brass last week at Mr Vajpayee’s residence where the BJP reportedly agreed to consider the VHP demand for legislation on the issue.

Asked whether the executive would discuss Kashi and Mathura issues, Mr Naqvi said: “We have only talked about Ayodhya.”

He, however, asserted that “BJP’s Hindutva is a guarantee for secularism. It subscribes to the Hindutva as expounded by Swami Vivekananda and the Supreme Court’s interpretation of it. We are not apologetic about it.”