Author: Our Special Correspondent
Publication: The Hindu
Date: August 29, 2004
A group of MPs, MLAs and other leaders
of the Bharatiya Janata Party will stage a satyagraha in Bangalore from
September 1 to 7 demanding the removal of the `tainted' Ministers from
the Union Ministry, withdrawal of the cases against the former Madhya Pradesh
Chief Minister, Uma Bharti, and restoration of the plaque commemorating
Savarkar at the Cellular Jail in the Andamans.
The party president, M.Venkaiah
Naidu, told mediapersons here today that party representatives from all
over the country would participate in the satyagraha. Seven groups, each
with representation from multiple States will offer "peaceful satyagraha"
on different days. On the eighth day there will be a rally, after which
the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, will address a public
meeting.
The former Deputy Prime Minister,
L.K. Advani, will inaugurate the satyagraha. Mr. Naidu said that the subsequent
phases of the agitation would be finalised during the course of the satyagraha.
'Smear campaign'
Denying the charge levelled by the
ruling party and the Left parties that the National Democratic Alliance
partners were disrupting the parliamentary proceedings, Mr. Naidu said
that the parties of the NDA were ready to give the United Progressive Alliance
(UPA) Government a reasonable length of time to produce results. But the
BJP could not remain a silent spectator when the Congress-led Central Government
was indulging in a "smear campaign" against freedom-fighters, especially
against Savarkar, and foisting "false cases" against Opposition leaders.
Demanding the restoration of the
Savarkar plaque at the Cellular Jail, Mr. Naidu said the Congress was trying
to distance itself from the issue after its Maharashtra unit took a dissenting
stand. He said that the senior Congress leader, Ghulam Nabi Azad, had said
the party did not agree with the view s of Mani Shankar Aiyar in the matter.
If the Congress felt that whatever
Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar had said was in his personal capacity, why did the
party president, Sonia Gandhi, write to the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam,
last year opposing his decision to attend the unveiling of Savarkar's portrait
in the Central Hall of Parliament? Why did she write to the then Speaker
against the unveiling of the portrait? If Ms. Gandhi's stand on Savarkar
was different from Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar's, was her decision to oppose
the installation of Savarkar's portrait in Parliament taken in her personal
capacity, he asked.
