The Hindu : National : Acharya's arrest a hasty step: Advani

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Monday, Nov 15, 2004

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National

Acharya's arrest a hasty step: Advani

BJP president L.K. Advani and his family members coming out of the Golden Temple in Amritsar after offering prayers on Sunday. — PTI

CHANDIGARH, NOV. 14. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president, L.K. Advani, said today that the Kanchi Sankaracharya, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi, had been arrested in haste and under pressure. He said there was no need for a formal arrest of the seer, as he would not have gone underground. He said the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court for investigations in cases related to highly placed personalities were not followed in the case.

Proposal on J&K

Mr. Advani said the party would oppose any change in the boundaries of Jammu and Kashmir, as had been suggested in a proposal by the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf.

Talking to reporters after paying obeisance at the Golden Temple and the Durgiana Mandir as well as offering floral tributes to the martyrs at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, Mr. Advani said the party would take a formal position only after Pakistan sent its official proposal on demilitarisation of Jammu and Kashmir. Mr. Advani said that he was yet to take a decision on an invitation to visit Pakistan.

To a question on the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh's statement on troop reduction in the valley, Mr. Advani said the BJP had already passed a resolution expressing concern over the deteriorating law and order condition as well as the overall security environment in Jammu and Kashmir and the north-east.

Mr. Advani reiterated his advice to the UPA Government at the Centre to follow the path laid down by the previous NDA regime, when the then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had achieved the vital breakthrough in improving India-Pakistan relations.

Activists arrested

Earlier, the city police arrested at least a dozen activists of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), who attempted to block Mr. Advani's cavalcade. They were protesting against a statement by the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, on constructing a golden temple close to the sea coast in that State. The party, which is headed by former MP, Simranjit Singh Mann, had held similar demonstrations at the culmination of the Tiranga Yatra of Uma Bharti.

Mr. Advani denied any fissures within the NDA over the BJP's stance on the construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya. Stressing that his statements were within the ambit of the NDA manifesto, the BJP chief said that any misconception, which persisted, would be sorted out at the Alliance's meeting in Delhi on Monday.

Jubilee celebrations

Mr. Advani said committees had been set up for the silver jubilee celebrations of the formation of the BJP, in 2005. He said that while the party had satisfactorily revamped the organisational set-up and been agitating on various issues, it had a lot of ground to cover on matters related to bringing about a social change. He expressed concern over the adverse sex ratio in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Gujarat.

Addressing the party workers, Mr. Advani said that the country's internal security was threatened by the rising Left extremism. He criticised the Manmohan Singh Government, which had scrapped the core committee set up by the NDA regime to deal with the naxalite problem in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.

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