Vajpayee distances himself from Singhal’s statements

Asked whether he condemned the statements, Vajpayee said he had already criticised them. He said he had asked the Gujarat Government to take strict action against those guilty of the recent attacks on Christians and Christian organisations and hoped things would soon be brought under control.

He refused to elaborate on the action the Government proposed to take against Singhal for his diatribe against minorities but warned, “Things cannot be allowed to go onlike this.”

The Prime Minister did not think there was a design or pattern in the series of attacks on minorities, especially Christians, in the country. “Most such incidents are confined to Gujarat. I have already asked the Union Home Ministry to collect the details of the Gujarat incidents. We’ll have to see who is behind the attacks,” he said.

This is Vajpayee’s first public criticism of a wing of the Sangh Parivar, and underlines the degree to which relations have soured between the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and him. Various organisations of the Parivar have openly attacked his economic agenda, especially the Insurance Regulatory Authority and Patents Bills.

Vajpayee’s attempts to soften the strident Hindutva face of the BJP are expected to generate heat in the party’s National Executive Meet, beginning January 2 at Bangalore, especially because many Executive members are hardliners.

The PM said there could be a difference of opinion among people on the issue of conversions by Christianmissionaries, but he could not approve of the language used by Singhal.

He recalled that the Constituent Assembly had debated the issue of conversions while discussing the right to practise religion, and said the debate on this was over.

Although Vajpayee castigated the BJP Government in Gujarat for not taking stringent action to protect the State’s minorities, he gave a clean chit to the Congress Government in Orissa for similar violence in Udaygiri, saying a land dispute was the cause of trouble there.

“All criminal incidents should not be converted into `tribal versus Christian violence’. We should try and resolve the land disputes (behind the violence),” he said.

He added that a small incident could take a nasty turn. “Leaders of public opinion must ensure that trivial issues are not allowed to develop into major problems,” he said.