Author: S P Singh & Utpal Kumar,
Ghaziabad
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: May 8, 2004
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee
on Friday evening stated that after the Kargil war, the United States had
pressurised India to give away some land to Pakistan before making peace
moves, "but we stood firm and did not give in to the American pressure".
The Prime Minister said he had extended
the hand of friendship to Pakistan only when India was in a strong position
after the successful elections in Jammu and Kashmir. Mr Vajpayee said this
while addressing an impressive election meeting at the Ram Lila Ground
in Ghaziabad.
That peace is existing today between
India and Pakistan is a "victory of policy" and the two neighbours, in
keeping with this peaceful relationship, should help each other in times
of need to solve common problems like poverty and hunger, said Mr Vajpayee.
"Even small children from there come to India for heart operations. We
have to help each other in times of need, but there will be no compromise
on Defence," Mr Vajpayee warned.
"Earlier, Pakistan was planning
to buy wheat from Australia but we offered and they agreed and we exported
wheat to Pakistan," he said. Mr Vajpayee also said during his tenure as
the Prime Minister of India, the country's pride had increased manifold
in the international fora.
"Many friendly countries had offered
to support India's claim for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.
But we asked them to facilitate our entry gracefully through elections
and not through lobbying," he said.
On the home front, the Prime Minister
said things had indeed looked up. Speaking about the performance of previous
Governments, Mr Vajpayee said they were struggling to feed the nation.
But now, "we have spare wheat to feed other countries".
"After initiating work on the Golden
Quadrilateral project to put in place a network of national highways, we
have planned to connect the villages to the highways. We are now planning
to link rivers to counter drought and irrigational problems," he said.
"Aap ko taya karna hai ki aapko kya chahiye. Behtar bijli, sadak, paani
aur hospital ya phir sirf kore wade (You have to decide whether you want
better power, roads, water and hospitals or just empty promises)," he told
the gathering.
As he spoke in detail about his
dream Golden Quadrilateral and river-linking projects, Mr Vajpayee jokingly
said: "Hamara kaam jorne ka hai. Ab sirf dil jorna banki hai (To connect
is our motto and now we have to connect hearts)."
He lauded the way his Government
handled the drought conditions in 12 states. "As many states were suffering
due to floods, I thought of a long-term remedy. And thus the project of
river- linking came into being," Mr Vajpayee said.
