Govt not communal: PM
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 18 — The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, today refuted the charge of the Opposition that the BJP-led coalition government was "communal" saying that in the past eight months that his government had been in power, there had been no communal flare-up anywhere in the country.

Addressing his first public meeting in Delhi, which was organised at Khanpur in Outer Delhi, the Prime Minister reviewed the performance of the government led by him at the Centre. The Prime Minister pointed out that despite being charged as a ‘communal’ party, there had been no communal flare-up anywhere in the country during the time the BJP-led coalition government was in power.

"The charge that the BJP is communal is incorrect for in the past eight months of BJP rule at the Centre there has been no communal flare-up anywhere though some minor incidents may have occurred", he said.

The Prime Minister, exhorted the Opposition not to pursue ‘negative’ politics in a bid to grab power. Such a trend would not be healthy for democracy. A disinformation campaign had been started by the opposition parties ever since the BJP-led coalition had assumed power, he alleged.

Mr Vajpayee said his party "never differentiated on the basis of religion or culture" and his government had extended support to all religious celebrations like the forthcoming 300th anniversary of the Khalsa Panth, the celebration at the Dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer and the recent utsav of Buddha at Bodh Gaya.

Criticising the Congress for being "in the habit of trying to blow up even minor incidents", he said in the case of the rape of four nuns in Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh, which is ruled by the Congress, the party had given a ticket for the coming Assembly elections to a person allegedly involved in the case.

His government was determined to introducing a legislation for awarding death sentence to those guilty of committing rape.

The Prime Minister, gave the assurance that the government had taken steps to check the rise in prices of essential commodities.

Mr Vajpayee said prices were being controlled despite the natural calamities. "If there would not have been any price rise, then the Congress would not have had any issue for campaigning for the forthcoming assembly elections", he said.

"Azadi ke pachas sal baad, yeh halat kyon hai. Hamein yeh vyavastha badalni hogi". (Even after 50 years of Independence, why is there such a situation. We have to change this system), Mr Vajpayee said.

The shortage of these vegetables was due to the vagaries of weather and the government had taken several steps to overcome it, he claimed.

The government proposed to introduce the insurance scheme for all crops and also increase the cold storage facilities for vegetables and other perishable commodities.

He cautioned the people against those parties which were responsible for spreading rumours about shortage of salt in the Capital.

Mr Vajpayee pointed out that the country needed stability and it was a matter of concern that there were external threats with atomic weapons being accumulated in the neighbourhood.

"The Government has kept national security above all. Although the country has already faced three wars in the last five decades, I can assure you that it won’t happen again and that is the reason why the nuclear tests were conducted", Mr Vajpayee stated.

"Hamein aise Bharat ka nirman karna hai, jisme bhook na ho, bhrastachar na ho aur bhaiy na ho." (We have to establish fearless, corruption free and hunger free nation), Mr Vajpayee said.

Later, addressing a rally in Kidwai Nagar in South Delhi, Mr Vajpayee said that people have understood the message which the BJP wanted to give through the Pokhran nuclear blasts.

Assuring full statehood for Delhi, Mr Vajpayee said that the Capital would then need not look to the Centre "for each and everything".

He said the Congress was not bothered about national security and was ‘spreading communal hatred’ in various parts of the country, including Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.

Mr Vajpayee observed that the alliance between the BJP and the SAD was ‘an alliance of brotherhood and not an opportunistic alliance’.

The BJP's chief ministerial candidate, Mrs Sushma Swaraj, said her position as the Chief Minister of Delhi, Mr Vajpayee as the Prime Minister of the country and the BJP forming a government at the Centre were three strings of the same garland.

Criticising Mrs Sonia Gandhi's remark on ‘jungle raj’ in Delhi, Mrs Swaraj pointed out that the situation in Bihar was much more worse.

The Outer Delhi MP, Mr Krishan Lal Sharma, spoke about the achievements of the BJP-led government at the Centre and promised that with a BJP government in the capital, all ongoing development works would receive a boost.