There is nothing wrong in senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani raising the Ram temple issue in the run-up to the Uttar Pradesh elections, the party's national spokesperson, Nirmala Seetharaman, said here on Sunday.
Responding to queries from reporters on whether raising this sensitive issue would not prove divisive in the U.P. elections, she said: “It has been our core issue but we were waiting for the judgment from the Allahabad High Court in this regard for long. The issue has never been dormant.”
She wondered how the party could fail to raise this issue, that too when Ayodhya was among the constituencies going to the polls this week.
The BJP spokesperson also demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh break his silence on the controversial Antrix-Devas deal and explain the bar on four space scientists holding any government post.
She regretted that Dr. Singh was silent, even though the Indian Space Research Organisation, which was involved in this affair, was under his direct control.
“Even with regard to such critical sectors there is no response from him,” Ms. Seetharaman said.
Proscribing the scientists from getting any new government assignment was “not only unfair to these scientists but also to the entire country. Were they the only group responsible for the decision? We get no answers for such questions.”
Ms. Seetharaman said the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre suffered from “complete governance paralysis.”
“It either fails to take decisions or delays decisions.”
For instance, whether it was regarding the Army Chief's age controversy or appointment of the Central Vigilance Commissioner, it had to be dragged to court. “Every institution which stands up to the government like the CVC and the CAG are all diluted under the current dispensation.”
According to her, the Prime Minister refused to respond to any question, including in Parliament. Though courts had not given any verdict against the government on some issues, their observations were “fairly critical of the government's approach.”
