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BJP refuses to condemn VHP stand on Ayodhya

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday sought to distance itself from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's renewed refusal to abide by the court verdict on the Ayodhya dispute, but avoided condemning the VHP's stand.

"The BJP's stand is very clear," party spokesman Sunil Shastri said. "A solution to the Ayodhya issue can only come about through a consensus or a court verdict. You cannot expect us to react when the VHP has only declared its intention [to not respect the court verdict]. Let the verdict come. I rule out any comment from us before that."

Asked about the VHP's attempt to carry out a shiladaan in Ayodhya during the riots in Gujarat, he said: "Please don't mix up shiladaan with Gujarat."

When Shastri was told that the BJP, as the party heading the coalition at the Centre, should comment on the VHP's statement, which amounted to a mockery of the judiciary and the law of the land, he merely said, "Law and order is the responsibility of the Government of India."

Asked to comment on the VHP's statement that Jammu & Kashmir should not be granted autonomy as demanded by Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, he said, "The government has rejected autonomy for J&K. The question does not arise. [The state] already enjoys special status."

On the Alex Perry controversy, he claimed that the Time magazine reporter, who had written an unflattering article on Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was not being harassed by the government.

But Congress spokesman Anand Sharma said, "India is not a banana republic and we condemn the attack by this government on Outlook magazine [which was raided in the past], Tehelka and that trend continues with Time magazine. It shows the true intent and character of these votaries of press freedom."

Sharma characterised the harassment of Perry as "a brazen attack on the freedom of the press". If the government had serious objections to the Time article, it could have taken recourse to the law of the land, he said.

He termed 'disingenuous' the government's claim that there was no link between Perry being questioned by the Foreigners Regional Registration Office and the article written by him.

Sharma iterated his party's call for banning the VHP and the Bajrang Dal for allegedly threatening the minorities with a 'Gujarat-like situation'.

He said the VHP's statement on Ayodhya on Sunday "proves that it and the Sangh Parivar do not respect the law of the land. It proves that the VHP cannot be trusted and the country and the government cannot trust it."

Responding to a question, Sharma said the Congress party's position on Jammu & Kashmir remained unchanged and all disputes pertaining to the state had to be resolved within the ambit of the agreement signed in 1975 between Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Abdullah and the Constitution.

The Ayodhya Issue: Complete Coverage

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