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BJP government poses no threat to nation or religion, says Farooq

There is no threat to any religion or to the nation under the present Bharatiya Janata Party- led government at the Centre, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah has said.

''Dr Farooq Abdullah will not become Hindu merely because the BJP government is in power in Delhi,'' he said while speaking at a function to celebrate the 600th birth anniversary of Sant Kabir at Kunjwani near Jammu last night.

Dr Abdullah decried frequent attempts at destabilising and toppling governments at the Centre before they could do any good for the people, and said this tendency would weaken the country . He warned that this type of instability in the country had almost brought the process of development to a standstill.

In this context, he recalled that the H D Deve Gowda government was pulled down before it could hardly complete eight months in office. The Inder Kumar Gujral government which succeeded Deve Gowda's, was also pulled down soon, he said.

Now the A B Vajpayee government had hardly completed 100 days when attempts to topple his government had started, he said.

''What is wrong with the Vajpayee government and where is the need to pull it down?'' he asked.

He said every government had a responsibility towards the country and its people, and they should be given sufficient time to perform and deliver the goods.

Abdullah said, "As compared to our country prime ministers and presidents in foreign countries remain in power six to seven years and even for 14 years as in France. On the other hand, in our country the life of the government was hardly more than few months," he said, and added, ''Where we are heading for?''

The chief minister said while our country has progressed tremendously since Independence in terms of trade and industry, "what has not changed is our mentality of leg-pulling", a tendency which will impede the progress and prosperity of the country.

''This calls for introspection at every level," he added.

The chief minister declined to accept the demand for holiday on Kabir's birthday, saying that people should work hard and do something positive for the society rather than enjoying holiday on one pretext of the other. He said there was a need to slash down the number of holidays and to let people work and make the country strong.

UNI

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