Monday, Jul 14, 2003
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By K.V. Prasad
The Samata Party president, George Fernandes, addressing the party's national executive meeting in New Delhi on Sunday. He is flanked by the party general secretary, Ravi Kumar (left) and Digvijay Singh.
This view emerged at the Samata Party's national executive meeting held here in the backdrop of the Bharatiya Janata Party's assurance to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Saturday to consider the demand. The Samata Party's stand was also articulated by its spokesman, Shiv Kumar, who said the party did not favour such legislation as it felt it would complicate the problem instead of resolving it. The party chief and Defence Minister, George Fernandes, maintained that a firm stand would be taken at the conclusion of its national council meeting tomorrow. In the draft political resolution debated in the national executive, the party had said that enacting laws through Parliament would only result in "creating further tensions and becoming another watershed, destroying the secular ethos, as was done by the Rajiv Gandhi Government in the Shah Bano case". The resolution would be put to vote at the national council. The session would also see the election of the new president. The document noted that the party had always maintained that the Ayodhya dispute must be resolved through dialogue or by abiding by a court verdict. Both were not mutually exclusive and both required a spirit of give-and-take between the communities concerned. "There has to be respect for mutual faiths but faith cannot be a factor that overrides a court verdict in a democracy". The document said individuals who had taken "extreme and intractable" positions in both communities needed to be marginalised and the moderates had to be encouraged to continue with efforts at a dialogue "unmindful of the recent setbacks". The last words apparently referred to the Kanchi Acharya, Sri Jayendra Saraswati's poposals that fell through. It mentioned the Samata Party's contribution in the coalition Government, with special reference to the work of Mr. Fernandes. It took note of the Congress' Shimla meet and the projection of Sonia Gandhi as the Prime Ministerial candidate. On sending troops to Iraq, the party urged the Government not to commit forces there unless the command was under the aegis of the United Nations.
`Evolve seat-sharing mechanism'
UNI reports: The Samata Party also demanded that a proper mechanism be evolved for seat sharing and other election-related issues before the next Lok Sabha elections. Articulating the concerns of the constituents of the BJP-led NDA Government, it said that the allies held nearly half of the seats in the coalition and they should have a feeling of `equal sharing' of achievements and due representations in various Government committees and Government bodies. Strict norms should be observed among the allies so that each party could rightfully grow with mutual respect without encroaching on carefully nurtured political work of others. Alliances at the State-level should be furthered and strengthened so that the "not-winnable space" should not fall into the Opposition kitty because of the NDA's default. "One ally should be allowed to contest in such areas," the party suggested. Demanding a proper infrastructure to facilitate coordination among the NDA partners, it said it would help proper projection of policy decisions of the Government eliminating discordant voices outside the Cabinet. The media handling should be by designated team and not through "varied voices" which might harm the functioning of many parties. Proper formulae need to be worked out collectively for adequate representation of persons nominated by partners of the alliance in various committees and bodies of the government so that there was no feeling of imbalance.
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