The Hindu : National : BJP wants DMK Ministers dismissed

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Saturday, Sep 22, 2007
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BJP wants DMK Ministers dismissed

Neena Vyas

BHOPAL: With the sound byte between Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders on the Ramar Sethu issue reaching new heights, the BJP has demanded the dismissal of all DMK Ministers in the Manmohan Singh government if Mr. Karunanidhi does not withdraw his comments on Lord Ram.

BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said DMK leaders used “ugly and condemnable language” against Lord Ram, the kind of language which even foreign rulers such as Aurangazeb or British Viceroys had never used. Would they use similar language against Islamic or Christian religious leaders? “Mr. Karunanidhi should know that freedom of speech cannot mean freedom to indulge in blasphemy,” he added.

At the BJP’s national executive here, party president Rajnath Singh said : “The DMK is part of the UPA-led coalition and it is the duty of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to persuade Mr. Karunanidhi to withdraw the derogatory, offensive and blasphemous remarks on Lord Ram.”

Mr. Prasad hinted at an early stitching up of an alliance in Tamil Nadu, without naming the AIADMK.

Asked why the BJP was going ahead with an alliance with that party in the light of past experience — the AIADMK withdrew its support to the Vajpayee government in 1998 —Mr. Prasad did not offer any explanation. He also did not respond to a question on the AIADMK’s stance on the arrest of the Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati in a murder case. That arrest had been condemned by the BJP as indicative of an anti-Hindu attitude. The BJP and the AIADMK had similar views on the Ramar Sethu issue and the India-U.S. nuclear deal.

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