BJP drops Ayodhya issue, bats for Amaranth land row

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) National Executive, which is meeting here, has skirted the issue of building the Ram temple at Ayodhya and decided to take up the ongoing rows related to the allotment of land for the Amarnath pilgrimage and the Ram Sethu issue.

Briefing reporters on the executive’s political resolution passed here today, Ananth Kumar, BJP general secretary, said, “The BJP National Executive has adopted a resolution which will focus on the UPA government’s mishandling of the Indo-US nuclear deal, Ram Sethu, playing into the hands of the separatists in Jammu & Kashmir and its soft stand on terrorism.”

The political resolution was moved by Ravi Shankar Prasad.

The National Executive also authorised senior leader and the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA’s) prime ministerial candidate, LK Advani, to initiate a mass-contact programme under the banner of “Vijay Sankalp Yatra” from Bangalore from today. The programme will conclude in Hyderabad on October 25.

The resolution said the arguments of the government in favour of the Indo-US nuclear deal made in the last three years had been exposed in the light of the letter sent by the Bush administration to the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee of the US Congress about the conditions attached with the deal.

“The BJP would like to clearly reiterate that any compromise on India’s right to nuclear testing is wholly unacceptable. The deal entails heavy costs in the event of us going for the test and obviously the UPA government has not properly negotiated our strategic interests,” said the resolution.

Intervening in the discussion on the political resolution, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said, “The government has bowed to its allies in agreeing to the demolition of Ram Sethu. This was done essentially to hurt the majority sentiment in the country.”

Rising the Amaranth land row and the situation in Jammu & shmir, the resolution said the gross indifference and ineptitude of the UPA government had given a new disturbing rise to the separatist politics in the state.

Modi said, “The decision to withdraw the allotment of land to the Shri Amaranathji Shrine Board is evidence of the government bending backwards to appease the separatists.”

On SIMI and the fight against terror, the resolution said the UPA government had been repeatedly giving signals to terrorists and their patrons, both inside the country and across the border, that strong action against them was tradeable for votes. “Thanks to the soft approach of the UPA government, India has emerged as a strong epicenter of terror in the last four years. This soft approach was tragically evident while dealing with the issue of relating to the ban on the notorious SIMI,” the resolution said.

“The central government has been soft on terror. It has consistently sent a signal that its softness on terror is minority-friendly,” said Modi.

The repeal of POTA, the non-execution of Afzal Guru, the refusal to give assent to state-level anti-organised crime laws are all evidence of the government’s softness on terror. The softness on terror is being used by he UPA as an instrument for vote-bank politics,” said Modi.