Author: Press Trust of India
Publication: Indian Express
Date: May 5, 2003
Congress on Monday found itself
in a tight spot following veteran party leader Vasant Sathe's reported
demand for declaring Bharat as a Hindu rashtra.
"We are getting in touch with him,
only after getting a clarification from him we will be able to make some
comment", party spokesman Satyavrat Chaturvedi told reporters when asked
his reaction on Sathe's statement. In reply to another question, he said
how can Congress support such an idea.
At a function to release the 10-volume
collected works of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Sathe, deviating from party
line, made a forceful plea for amending the constitution to include the
word Hindustan in order to "establish Hindu rashtra".
"No one will object to such an amendment,"
he said, clarifying that Hindu rashtra should not be equated with religion
but as a mark of national identity.
The function was attended by Prime
Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, RSS chief K S Sudershan and Deputy Prime
Minister L K Advani.
