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NDA unfit to fight terrorism, says Pawar

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR SEPT. 15 .The president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Sharad Pawar, today castigated the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre as a "weak" government which cannot fight terrorism unleashed from across the country's borders and curb the terrorism emanating from within. As long as NDA remained in power, the country would not have peace, he said.

"The worst part of their rule during the past five years had been the division of Indian society," Mr.Pawar, addressing a State-level workers' meeting at the Birla Auditorium here, said. The weak NDA leadership was not in a position to stop the activities of the country's neighbours while the acts of the BJP and the VHP in Gujarat and elsewhere provoked terrorist strikes in Mumbai and other places, he said. "To a great extent the BJP and VHP are also responsible for terrorism," he charged.

"Who is against building a Ram temple? None. But you cannot take law into your hands. Those who demolished the Babri Masjid had Indian Constitution as their target," Mr.Pawar, who was in the Rajasthan Capital along with the party's general secretary, Tariq Anwar, told party workers. The workers' meeting was addressed by the State president of NCP, Shri Ram Gotewala, and others.

Mr.Pawar said whenever the elections were near the temple issue was brought back by the BJP. Now the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K.Advani, and the BJP president, Venkaiah Naidu, too were talking about building a Ram temple at Ayodhya even when the issue was pending in the court, he pointed out.

Later responding to queries from media persons, Mr.Pawar said there was no change in NCP stand towards the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin. However, he resented the fact that this question was asked too often -- even at the time when it had no relevance.

Mr.Pawar said at present there was floor coordination between the Congress and the NCP in the Lok Sabha. Any kind of coordination outside Parliament could be considered when it came to finding a replacement to NDA, he quipped.

Mr.Pawar was non-committal on the prospects of the main players -- the Congress and the BJP-- in the five States going to polls this year-end. He as well as Mr.Anwar were also non-committal about the issue reservation, presently a hot subject in Rajasthan. "Reservations divide the society. What is the meaning of reservations when there are no new jobs? Both Congress and BJP are responsible for politicizing the issue," Mr.Anwar noted.

The NCP leaders said they had high expectations from the Gehlot Government in Rajasthan but after four-and-a-half years of being in power they were feeling disappointed. Mr.Pawar mentioned the fact that when the Congress rode to power in the State with a big majority he was the party's leader in the Lok Sabha.

As for the NCP's election preparedness the leaders said the party was on an attempt to make it, for the first time, into these Assemblies. The NCP would fight maximum seats in Chhattisgarh while in Rajasthan the party would have seat adjustments with four other parties -- the CPI, CPI(M), Janata Dal (S) and Samajwadi Party.

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