3 ministers leave for Baripada
From Shubhabrata Bhattacharya
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Jan 27 — Faced with criticism from its allies and sections of the Sangh Parivar and confronted by the Congress and other opposition parties, the BJP-led Government has embarked on a proactive stance. Yesterday, after holding an emergency meeting of the Union Cabinet, the Prime Minister despatched a team of three Ministers to Baripada in Orissa to get a first hand assessment of the burning of an Australian missionary and his two sons. Today, through a communiqué, the Prime Minister announced his intention to observe a fast on the 50th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s martyrdom, on January 30, to promote "sarva panth sambhav" (amity among different faiths).

The decision regarding the visit to Orissa by Mr George Fernandes, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi and Mr Naveen Patnaik was communicated to the media by the office of the Information and Broadcasting Minister, Mr Pramod Mahajan, late at night on Republic Day. Mr Mahajan personally gave a soundbite for the television channels. The scale on which the propaganda blitz has been launched reminds one of the situation soon after the Pokhran-II blasts in May when Mr Pramod Mahajan was chosen by the Prime Minister for briefing the press on a day-to-day basis.

The incident at Baripada in Orissa involving the Christian missionary and the massacre at Jehanabad on Republic Day are being used by the BJP to turn the tables on its opponents. The Jehanabad massacre has revived the demand from the BJP for the dismissal of the Rabri Devi Government. The Baripada incident is being sought to be used for a similar exercise against the Congress Government of Mr Janki Ballabh Patnaik in Bhubaneswar.

While one ally of the ruling party, the Trinamool Congress led by Ms Mamata Banerjee, had demanded the resignation of the Union Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, following the Baripada incident (Ms Jayalalitha of the AIADMK and the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr Chandrababu Naidu of the TDP, had also made public their unhappiness with the BJP Government following the Baripada incident), two other allies, the Biju Janata Dal and the Lok Shakti, have squarely blamed the state Government led by Mr Patnaik and have openly questioned the legitimacy of the demand for Mr Advani’s resignation.

Today, January 27, had been speculated in the media as the possible day for the much-awaited Cabinet reshuffle, which could not be held on January 15, the Prime Minister’s statement to the press from his Lok Sabha constituency, Lucknow, notwithstanding. Far from a reshuffle, the political situation today was fluid.

As things stand, the Government does not know how long it can last, though it is putting up a brave face and preparing for a fight even if it is driven to the wall. The Opposition, on the other hand, seems confused. Though the support base of Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee is tottering with allies and even a section of the Sangh Parivar openly being hostile, it is not resulting in a positive ambience for anyone in the Opposition.

Mr Fernandes is scheduled to address the media here tomorrow after returning from Baripada. The BJP has given a call for a general strike on Tuesday to demand dismissal of the Rabri Devi Government in Bihar. Thus, putting pressure on the RJD Government in Patna and the Congress Government in Bhubaneswar seems to be the immediate strategy of the crisis managers in the Government.

And this, less than a week after the tall talk for reviewing the use of Article 356' the provision for President’s rule, at a meeting of the Inter-State Council held in the Capital. While the Shiromani Akali Dal and the DMK were certain that they were opposed to the use of Article 356, all other political parties while talking of values and ethics, skirted the issue.

Fact-finding team leaves for Orissa

NEW DELHI, Jan 27 (PTI) — A fact-finding team of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) today left for Orissa to study the situation in the state in the wake of the killing of an Australian missionary and his two sons.

The team comprising Mr K. Neminath and Mr James Massey will make an on-the-spot assessment at Manoharpur in Keonjhar where the incident took place, the NCM said in a release.

The team will submit its report to the commission with recommendations on its return here, the release said.

BHUBANESWAR: Four more persons have been arrested in connection with the brutal killings of Australian missionary Graham Stewart Steins and his two sons in Manoharpur village of Orissa’s Keonjhar district, taking the total number of arrests to 53, official sources said on Wednesday.

However, the prime suspect, Dara Singh, who allegedly led an armed mob and set fire to the station wagon in which the missionary and his sons were sleeping, was still at large.

RANCHI: The Congress on Wednesday said the Centre’s alleged failure to deal stringently with the Shiv Sena and culprits of attacks on Christians in Gujarat had led to the gruesome killing of Australian missionary Graham Stewart Steins and his two sons in Orissa.

“Instead of taking tough action against Shiv Sainiks who took an aggressive communal line in opposing the Pakistan cricket team’s tour to the country, the Union Home Minister was cowering before them,” party spokesman Ajit Jogi told newspersons at the airport here on way to Delhi.

Reacting to Monday’s Jehanabad massacre in which 22 Scheduled Caste people had been mowed down in their sleep by the banned Ranvir Sena, he said the law and order situation in Bihar was grim but unlike the BJP and its allies the Congress did not see use of Article 356 as a solution.

Caste tensions needed to be resolved on the socio-economic plane, he said, demanding tough punishment to the guilty.

HYDERABAD: The BJP on Wednesday held the Congress and Left parties responsible for the social and communal tension prevailing in the country.

“Pseudo-secularism and double standards coupled with divisive and vote-bank politics of these parties have led to the present situation in many states,” BJP general secretary M. Venkaiah Naidu told a press conference here.

He said the Centre should come out with a white paper on communal violence in various parts of the country to expose the persons responsible for it.

PM to observe fast on Jan 30

NEW DELHI, Jan 27 (PTI) — In the backdrop of attacks on Christians, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has decided to observe fast for ‘sarva panth sambhav’ (amity among different faiths) on the 50th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s martyrdom on January 30.

Mr Vajpayee has also appealed to the people to join him in observing the token fast, a Prime Minister’s Office spokesman said here today. A series of special welfare activities have been planned all over the country by the national committee for observance of the martyrdom to focus on the need to spread the message of Mahatma Gandhi.