The Hindu : BJP takes exception to report

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 23, 2003

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National

BJP takes exception to report

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI DEC. 22. The Bharatiya Janata Party today objected to a United States' State Department report on international religious freedom which gave rather ``low marks'' to the party's track record and describing it as a ``Hindu nationalist party''.

The riots in Gujarat, the party's association with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the BJP's own ideological stance on religious conversions, had all come in for mention in the report.

The BJP spokesperson, V.K. Malhotra, took exception to the report on the party. ``The United States has no right to talk about Indian political parties,'' he said.

Addressing presspersons, he said: ``The U.S. is not the boss of the world.''

He justified the laws passed by some State Governments against forcible conversions and pointed out that the Governments, headed by non-BJP parties also had also passed similar laws. The BJP had as its members people belonging to different communities — Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and Jews. It was wrong to call it a ``Hindu'' party, Mr. Malhotra said.

Meanwhile, in response to a question the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs said the report concerned was ``internal to the U.S. Administration'' and the Government of India ``takes no cognisance of it.'' However, he added that internationally it was ``widely acknowledged'' that India was a secular country and its ``Constitution provides absolute protection of religious freedoms.'' In addition, ``democratic governance, rule of law and established conventions further promote this right.'' He said that any abuse was handled by ``our own internal processes which include the judiciary, the press, the civil society, the National Human Rights Commission, and so on.''

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