The Hindu : National : I don't view Opposition as an enemy, says Manmohan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 16, 2004

National

National

I don't view Opposition as an enemy, says Manmohan

DELHI, SEPT. 15 . The Bharatiya Janata Party said today it saw nothing wrong in the Prime giving an interview to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh mouthpiece `Panchjanya'. "Panchjanya is an independent publication. It has been carrying interviews of personalities from various fields. So there is nothing wrong in it [Dr. Singh giving an interview]," the party spokesman, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, told reporters here.

Routine request

Answering queries at the daily briefing here at the AICC headquarters, the Congress spokesperson, Jayanti Natarajan, said: "Nothing much should be read into it. It was a routine request by the Editor of the journal for a meeting and the Prime Minister granted it. The Editor wrote what transpired at the meeting."

When some reporters said that it was the first interview by any Congress Prime Minister to the Panchjanya, "I don't read too much into it [interview]," Ms. Natarajan said, adding "I have checked up the facts. I have this preliminary information. I will try to get more details and come back to you."

In possibly the first-ever interview given by a Congress Prime Minister to the RSS mouthpiece, Dr. Singh had said he did not view the Opposition as his "enemy" but regretted that Parliament was not allowed to function.

Asserting that he was unperturbed by the ``foul language'' used against him, Dr. Singh said he was more concerned about tackling issues such as inflation and corruption and speeding up economic and administrative reforms. — PTI

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