The Hindu : 'India will never be a theocratic state'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 28, 2002

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'India will never be a theocratic state'

By K.V. Prasad

The President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the Vice-President, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the Prime Minister, Vajpayee, the DeputyPrime Minister, L.K. Advani, the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, and the Lok Sabha Speaker, Manohar Joshi, with theLok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha MPs posing for a group photograph at Parliament House in New Delhi on Wednesday onthe occasion of golden jubilee of Parliament. -- Photo: Shanker Chakravarty

NEW DELHI NOV. 27. The Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, today maintained that India would never be a theocratic state and asserted that for the Vajpayee Government, the concept of Hindutva was the same as interpreted by the Supreme Court.

Replying to a short-duration discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the recent developments in Gujarat, Mr. Advani said that 50 years ago, even in the backdrop of Partition, Indian political thinkers had rejected the idea of India being a theocratic state, which held good now and would be so in future.

In his short but spirited reply, Mr. Advani tried to balance his Constitutional obligations with his party's political priorities in Gujarat. He ended up praising the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, and asserted that today's discussion would bring political dividends to "our leader".

The three-hour discussion saw both the BJP and the Opposition raise points which reflected the mood in their camps in the run-up to the December 12 Assembly polls. If the BJP members referred to threat of terrorism casting its long shadow over Gujarat, the Opposition stressed on the need to ensure free and fair polls, the sense of insecurity still prevalent among the minorities and the inadequate relief work for riot-hit victims.

Mr. Advani clarified that he echoed similar views last week in the Lok Sabha that attracted criticism and later apology from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. He said that for the Government, Hindutva was a concept that was acceptable to people and not one which "develops allergy" towards every other religion.

Asserting that so far as secularism was concerned, the Government accepted the Constitution in letter and in spirit, Mr. Advani advised the next government in Gujarat that it too should follow the Constitutional position. One of the essential facets was that every citizen, irrespective of caste or religion, should feel safe and secure and was afforded equal opportunities.

Disagreeing with the Opposition's sharp criticism of Mr. Modi vis-a-vis the minorities, Mr. Advani said that on the contrary the Chief Minister was going ahead on a positive note talking of — "educating, irrigating and electrifying" Gujarat.

However, he said that if the Opposition sought to raise controversial issues, then it might not be inappropriate for the BJP referring to the Godhra incident. The remark did not go uncontested with the CPI(M) members protesting that as the Home Minister, he should not have said it.

Earlier, Mr. Advani's interpretation of the Marxist ideology was disputed by the CPI(M) and other Left members who insisted that they be allowed to set the record straight. They later staged a walkout.

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