Southern States - Karnataka   

Secular parties must quit NDA: Gowda

By S. Rajendran

Bangalore Feb. 7. The former prime minister, H.D. Deve Gowda, today castigated the National Democratic Alliance Government at the Centre for "straying from the National Agenda on Governance and pursuing a BJP and Hindutva agenda with an eye on the elections".

He told The Hindu here that the Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee, and the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, were indulging in double-talk in saying that the NDA Government was committed to the national agenda and simultaneously pursuing the Hindutva agenda and working towards the construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya. The Vajpayee Government should either stick to the National Agenda on Governance or quit office. "The Government has betrayed the voters and its coalition partners. The latter are being taken for granted because of their helplessness in putting up a challenge."

Mr. Deve Gowda, who said he was disturbed by the fundamentalist policies and the communal politics of the BJP, wanted the secular parties within the NDA and outside to unite and put up a fight against the BJP. "It is quite obvious that the BJP President, Venkaiah Naidu, and the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister are committed to pursuing the Hindutva agenda. The several political parties that constitute the NDA have been let down. At least now they should come together with the secular parties, unless they are spineless."

He said that after reaping the benefits in the Gujarat elections by using the Hindutva card, the NDA Government was now keen on further whipping up emotions by talking in favour of the construction of the Ram temple. The RSS and the BJP leaders were also making statements in support of the temple. "The national agenda is now virtually dead and the BJP agenda has taken its place."

Mr. Deve Gowda said it had come as a rude shock that the Union Government had pleaded before the Supreme Court to vacate the stay order and hand over possession of the undisputed land at Ayodhya for the construction of the temple. Ironically, the Prime Minister himself had stated earlier that the construction of the temple would not be taken up until the final judgment of the Supreme Court or a settlement was arrived at among the parties to the dispute.

He said the NDA Government should remember that it was voted to power because of its categorical assurance to the electorate that it would keep away from the controversial Ram temple issue, Article 370, and a common civil code and that it would stick to the National Agenda on Governance.

Referring to the Cauvery row between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and the latest directions of the Supreme Court, Mr. Deve Gowda said the State Government had mishandled the Cauvery issue and the Union Government had also played its cards to derive political mileage. The factual position, including the plight of the Cauvery Basin farmers in the State, had not been taken into consideration.

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