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Advani hints at fresh Cabinet recommendation for Bihar government's dismissal

Union Home Minister L K Advani has indicated that the government might send a fresh proposal to the President for the dismissal of the Rabri Devi government in Bihar.

Talking to the media in Lucknow on Wednesday, he said there was no doubt that anarchy and lawlessness prevailed in Bihar and there was no change in the situation there since the Union Cabinet had recommended imposition of President's rule.

When the reporters repeatedly asked him about the future action of the Centre in this regard, the home minister said the Union government will have to give it a second thought.

In reply to another question, Advani stated the possibility of fresh recommendation for the dismissal of the Bihar government is not ruled out. He said, ''We could have pursued the matter last time also and the recommendations of the Union Cabinet would have been sent to President K R Narayanan again but we did not do it out of respect for the President."

Advani said the government was much concerned about the activities of Inter-Services Intelligence which, according to him, was being used by Pakistan to destabilise the country. The ISI's activities in India were planned by Pakistan after the 1971 war and intensified after 1983, he observed.

"My government was of the definite view that ISI activities were not countered by the previous government in the way they should have been," he claimed, adding that the ISI activities in India show how soft the Indian state has become. Democracy should not have been used as a pretext for being soft. Rather, democracy should be used as a weapon for staving off any challenge, he further said.

Good governance meant the protection of borders as well as the people of the country and the Bharatiya Janata Party government was acting on the principle in an effective manner which would show in the times to come, he claimed.

Advani also lambasted the other political parties for being obsessed with vote politics. The scrapping of TADA was proof of that, he pointed out.

He said the states should make their own laws to counter terrorism and added that the central government was also considering to make laws giving more teeth to the police machinery.

When asked why the central government does not come out with laws similar to TADA, the home minister said any such action by the BJP government would invite negative reaction. He, however, refused to admit that the compulsion of running an alliance government did not allow it to do so, arguing they simply did not have adequate majority to pass such a bill.

In reply to another question, Advani said he would like to convince all the major political parties to think in terms of coming out with an effective law which could help the government combat terrorism in the country.

UNI

EARLIER REPORTS:
Bhandari asks Centre to issue directive under Article 355 to Bihar government
Advani insists Rabri ought to have been dismissed
Cabinet drops move to sack Rabri Devi

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