Bjp Defends Maharashtra Govt

The BJP yesterday defended the right of the Maharashtra government to reject the Srikrishna commission's report and reported its state unit's view that the report was biased and one-sided, but did not take a stand as a party. That would require detailed study, said BJP General Secretary M Venkaiah Naidu.

The Left parties and the Janata Dal called for the resignation of the Maharashtra government on the issue but refrained from demanding its dismissal. The Congress Working Committee met last evening to consider what stand the party should take.

Party leaders were calculating how strongly they could condemn the Shiv Sena-BJP government in the state for trashing the report without causing a Hindu backlash. They also had to consider their reaction to the government's Action Taken Report, which played up the rivalry between Congress leaders Sudhakarrao Naik and Sharad Pawar. Even before the Congress had taken a stand, Naidu called "the Congress' dismissal demand" surprising, saying the government was and is nowhere in the picture. "They cannot accept what is suitable to them. If they can do it, the state government can do it also." He warned that anyone trying to take political advantage of the report would find that it boomeranged. He reported that the commission had dealt with the Mumbai blasts in March, 1993, cursorily while concentrating on the riots, to which they were linked. He added that the commissions of inquiry act needed review since many reports were being rejected.

 

The CPI called for the resignation of the Maharashtra government, which it said had "shown its contempt for truth and exposed its guilt." It recalled how the Maharashtra government had been biased against the commission from the time it took office. It first wound it up, then revived it under "democratic-secular" pressure. It then delayed its tabling and then rejected it before any discussion. "It is simply atrocious and agaisnt any norm of the commission of inquiries to cast aspersions that the findings of the commission would lead to communal strife and they are anti-Hindu," the party stated. Calling the commission "objective and factual," the party added that "the findings of the commission underline the urgent need for secularising the police forces without which social and communal harmony cannot be maintained." Speaking for the Janata Dal, parliamentary party leader Ram Vilas Paswan also called for the resignation of the Maharashtra government and, asked about dismissal, suggested that the centre could intervene if necessary.