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Wednesday, Apr 07, 2004

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National

We will build temple: Advani

The Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, coming out of the Hanuman Garhi temple in Ayodhya on Tuesday. The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Kalyan Singh, is seen behind him. — PTI

AYODHYA, APRIL 6. The Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, today reiterated that Ayodhya had a special significance for him and the BJP was committed to constructing a Ram temple at the Ram Janambhoomi here.

Attacking the erstwhile National Front Government led by V.P. Singh for the Mandal movement aimed at dividing society on caste lines, he said the Ram temple movement had "reunited the Hindu society."

Asserting that the Ayodhya movement had proved a "very effective antidote" to attempts by some vested interests to fragment Hindu society along antagonistic caste lines, Mr. Advani said he was confident that an amicable solution to the temple issue would lead to cordial relations between the two communities.

Addressing a press conference, he said that Ayodhya was not a political issue but a national one, important for unity in the country and denied that the BJP had joined the Ram Janmabhoomi movement for any religious purposes. "We wanted to expose the pseudo-secularism" and the "duplicity and the double standards" of the Congress Government.

He assured that the temple imbroglio would however be resolved amicably with the Muslims. Asserting that such kind of understanding would be much more enduring, he said the other two options — court ruling and Parliament legislation — would only leave the communities unhappy.

Mr. Advani said that so far the talks had been very positive and it had given him confidence that the matter would be resolved amicably soon after the new Government took over. He, however, did not disclose which leaders of the communities were involved in negotiations, saying it had been kept confidential at their request.

Two issues — the `Shah Bano case,' in which the Congress somersaulted on its decision, and the caste-based politics of the Janata Dal which led to a largescale violence in the country — had forced the BJP to associate with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's temple movement.

The BJP was not against job reservation for the poor but the way it was implemented was wrong and hence the party was against its implementation. Subsequently, it withdrew its support to the National Front which eventually proved a boon in disguise. The party, which merely had two members in the Lok Sabha, had today emerged as the single largest party, he said.

The `Bharat Uday Yatra' was different from the earlier two yatras as it was also used for campaigning. He maintained that development, good governance and security were the party's plank and it was not making Ram Janmabhoomi as an electoral issue.

Defending the BJP's stand on barring people of foreign origin from holding high offices, he gave the example of the former U.S. Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, who was an American citizen but could not contest the Presidential election.

He lambasted the parties trying to bring in instability in the country for their own survival. The BJP and the Congress were the major players and the other parties had to ally with the former or the latter. He regretted that some regional parties were mobilising the people on sectarian lines.

Mr. Advani criticised Pakistan for setting a deadline for resolving all outstanding issues, saying it was not a "happy indication".

India had already expressed its view to Pakistan on the issue and hoped that the road map for the normalisation of relationship delineated by the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries would be the guiding principle.

Mr. Advani, who reached here on 24th day of the yatra, later addressed a series of rallies on way to Basti and Gorakhpur.

— UNI

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