'If guests are sincere, we won't lag'

No, I don't look at Maulana Fazlur Rehman's visit here as something undesirable. He is our guest and if some people in Pakistan desire to improve relations with us, that's all right with me. It has been made clear to us that his is a goodwill mission. So be it. If they want to talk, let them talk. Hopefully, something will come out of it. At least nobody can say that when they wanted to talk, we backed out.

I have just met him and hope that his desire to improve relations with our country goes in the right direction. I think that desire has to be backed with concrete action on the ground.

If a section of the media perceives that India is a soft state, it would be entirely our fault. There has only been loud talk about putting down terrorism with an iron hand. Despite the assertion, terrorists continue their attacks on our installations and camps of our security forces. When Parliament was attacked, the government talked about aar-paar ki ladai, but it didn't happen. So can anyone be blamed for perceiving India as a soft state?

A lot of noise was made about hot pursuit… enemy being chased into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, but nothing happened. Repeated loss of credibility by any government is a dangerous thing.

Even on the issue of Ram temple in Ayodhya, there is vacillation on the government's part. Unless you are decisive, who is going to believe you?

Maulana Rehman is meeting a wide section of the people here and he will take back his impressions to his country. The thing is, we are a peaceful people and want to live peacefully with our neighbours. But I can tell you that the Indian people will never for a moment tolerate any inimical designs from a hostile country, especially our neighbour.

I would like to emphasise that it is a good thing that foreign tourists have begun flocking to Jammu and Kashmir. This indicates that some of the inspired violence (from across the border) has decreased. But we have to be vigilant. I believe that the number of tourists is increasing by the day and that is a good sign. I hope that the realisation dawns that peace brings in its wake, development and prosperity, which is greatly needed for the developing countries in the subcontinent.

Lastly, I say that if our guests are sincere in their desire to make friends in India, I don't think we will be lag. But it has to be a two-way traffic because you cannot clap with one hand.

VHP leader Vishnu Hari Dalmia spoke to Tara Shankar Sahay