6 May 2002
DIVIDED THEY STAND UNITED ON
GUJARAT ISSUE
From Jal Khambata
NEW
DELHI: Removal of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for the
commual riots continuing past two months was once again
empathatically ruled out on Monday by Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee and Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani in the Rajya Sabha that
passed a motion on the violence by a voice vote after a fierce verbal
battle for three days dividing the House vertically.
Vajpayee
made a disclosure that the Bhartiya Janata Party had made up its mind
for change of leadership in the state before going to Goa for its
national executive, but the decision was dropped following an indepth
assessment that the situation would only worsen if Modi were
changed.
Advani also endorsed Vajpayee's disclosure, stressing
that removal of Modi demanded by the Opposition vehemently was no
solution to restoring peace in Gujarat. He, however, added a new
element by revealing intercepts of messages from across the border to
certain terrorist outfits to give financial and other help for
continuence of violence in the state.
Even without the House
passing a motion to implore the Centre to take steps under Article
355 with regard to the Gujarat violence, Advani said Article 355
already puts the onus of responsibility on the Centre.
He also
refuted Opposition leader Manmohan Singh's plea to "decommunalise"
Gujarat's police force and cleanse the Home Guards of Bajrang Dal
activists, affirming that there may be weakenesses in handling the
violence but it will be "improper to make such sweeping
condemnation" of the whole police force.
Advani also
sought to distance away the Government from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad
supremo Ashok Singhal justifying the Gujarat carnage as
"manifestation of the awakening of Hindu society",
stressing that "whosoever says anything which is against the
law, the government condemns it and disassociates from it." As
regards some pamphlets in circulation calling upon the Hindus to
boycott Muslims, Advani said the Government condemns such leaflets
and those persons behind these cannot get any support from any
quarter.
The Rajya Sabha also witnessed a strange and
unprecedented phenomenon of the Opposition and the ruling benches
remaining sharply divided on the Gujarat issue during 19 hours of
heated debate spread over three days and yet passing by a voice vote
the Congress-sponsored motion on Gujarat on Monday.
The motion
expressed 'deep sense of anguish at the persistence of violence in
Gujarat", urged the Centre "to intervene effectively under
Article 355 of the Constitution to protect the lives and properties
of the citizens and to provide effective relief and rehabilitaion of
the victims of violence."
Vajpayee had to defend himself
once again for his utterances in Gwalior on Sunday, explaining that
he had not ruled out action under Article 355 but all that he had
said was that the discussion in the House itself was a notice to the
state government.
Moreover, once the Rajya Sabha passed the
motion, the Government is bound to implement it fully in letter and
spirit, he said, adding that there may not be any need of directives
if the State Government acts as per the Centre's advice.
In
his intervention, Vajpayee said some elements on both sides (meaning
Hindus and Muslims) were not allowing the situation in Gujarat to
become normal and as such he invited the Opposition to sit together
to work out a "ranniti" (strategy) to defeat these
forces.
A straight question from Vajpayee to the Opposition to
let him know "what do you expect from us through the motion"
brought retort from Congress member Arjun Singh, in his reply, that
the Indian Constitution stands there to take the guidance in dealing
with the situation.
Arjun Singh wanted the Government to
itself initiate before the Supreme Court through a petition or in
response to pending Gujarat petitions to let a sitting Supreme Court
judge conduct the probe instead of the "futile drama" of an
inquiry by a retired High Court judge as ordered by the Modi
Government. He said the Government can also offer to the Supreme
Court to let all main cases of violence be probed by the
CBI.
Outside Parliament, Congress spokesman Jaipal Reddy said
the Government's unprecedented step of backing the Opposition's
motion for its unanimous passage has its "unavoidable
consequences" of acting under Article 355 as otherwise any
attempt of "white-washing" will expose it as "a
passive partner to capital crimes committed by the Modi
Government."
What Congress expects the Government to do
in the light of the passage of the motion urging it to act under
Article 355 is to (a) remove Narendra Modi, (b) appoint a Supreme
Court judge for a probe into violence as recommended by the National
Minority Commission, (c) order CBI inquiry as suggested by the
National Human Rights Commission and (d) put the Government of
Gujarat formally on notice under Article 355.
Defending the
Government in the Rajya Sabha, Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani
asserted that the Centre was already performing the "duty"
cast upon it under Article 355 to protect the State.
He
contested contention of Congress member Kapil Sibal and nominated
member Fali Nariman that the Centre is duty-bound to act under
Article 356 once the situation described under Article 355 exists.
Article 355 does not mean action by way of dismissal of the state
government under Article 366, he affirmed, pointing out that Article
355 imposes on the Centre "not the adversial role but assisting
role."
Even if the State Government does not ask for
Army, the Centre is duty-bound under Article 355 to rush Army and
para-military forces if it finds the situation so bad and a notice
become essential only if the State Government refuses to use these
forces in quelling violence. Article 355 implores the Centre to
provide assistance "in men, material and finance" and that
the Centre is already doing through Army deployment and providing
money for relief and rehabilitation,
Categorically once again
denying that he had criticised Islam and attacked Muslims in his
recent speech at Goa, the Prime Minister said equal respect for all
religions has been the credo of India since time immemorial and
pointed out that he had only expressed concern over the rise of
religious fundamentalism in various countries, including
India.
Pointing out that he was being attacked for a reference
to militant Islam and not militant Hinduism, Vajpayee said he had
asserted at a function for release of a book by veteran K R Malkani's
book that he disapproves the wrong face of Hinduism seen everywhere
today but he certainly accepts the Hindutva of Swami Vivekananda.
A
militant ideology cannot succeed any where and if some Hindu
Organisations become a danger to the country, the laws will catch up
with them, he said but quickly added that it was his trust that they
will never become danger to the country. He was responding to the
Opposition demanding ban on the militant organisations like VHP and
Bajrang Dal.
Vajpayee had a dig at the Opposition' hue and cry
over the Gujarat issue as eagerness to assume early power even before
the Lok Sabha completed its term, but Arjun Singh aptly that the
Congress was not in a hurry but it will certainly tell the people
whenever polls are held that the Government did not use the
Constitutional provisions to stop the Gujarat carnage.
The
Prime Minister sought to ridicule Arjun Singh who had initiated the
debate last Thursday that instead of dealing with the present
situation in Gujarat and discussing what can be done in future, he
had gone back to decades past to dig out a book by then RSS chief
Guru Golwalkar (praising Hitler) which were his personal views and
not of the organisation and moreover the book itself had been
subsequently withdrawn.
Arjun Singh, however, justified his
reference to Golwalkar, pointing out that what is happening in
Gujarat did not begin on February 27 but it was the result of the
philosophy of racism propounded by the then RSS chief and carried on
to this day by his followers.
While re-describing the Gujarat
incidents as "nindajanak, lajjajanak aur mathe par ek kalank"
(condemnable, shameful and a blot on head), the Prime Minister cited
a report of the minorities commission on the riots during the
Congress government in Gujarat led by Madhavsinh Solanki and claimed
its conclusions were the same that have come from the commission on
the recent violence.
Advani said had anybody attacked those
responsible for the Godhra train burning, he would be violating the
law of the land and dealt with accordingly while what happened in
Gujarat subsequently was violence against the civilisation and such a
revenge has to be condemned at barbaric.
Referring to Congress
member Ahmed Patel on Thursday pointing out during the debate that a
woman passenger had told him that a Police constable present on the
spot at Godhra had refused to open fire to frighten the mob, Advani
said he had asked the Chief Minister to probe into this angle. Modi
had told him that it was not correct that the Police was silent
spectator to the burning of train as two persons were killed in its
firing on that very day. END