New Delhi, Feb 21: Taking strong exception to Prime Minister's remarks in an election rally that historical evidence would prove that a temple existed at the disputed site in Ayodhya, an agitated Opposition in Lok Sabha today charged Atal Bihari Vajpayee with "communalising" the situation in Himachal Pradesh to win assembly polls there.
Raising the issue during zero hour amid strong protests from the ruling benches, Samajwadi Party member Ramji Lal Suman, who had given a notice of adjournment motion, said Vajpayee had deliberately made the statement to play the "Hindutva card" and "communalise" the situation to win the elections.
Responding to the opposition criticism of Vajpayee's statement, parliamentary affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said she too had gone into newspaper reports and she had spoken to him on the matter. The Prime Minister had categorically stated in his speech that "we will abide by the court verdict on the Ayodhya issue", she said.
"There could be no other reassuring statement to the nation than the one made by Vajpayee,” Swaraj said, dismissing the charge that it was meant to communalise the situation to gain political mileage.
The Opposition had an unexpected support from JD(U) whose leader Devendra Prasad yadav said that such a statement should have been avoided. What he said could not be heard in the din as other NDA members particularly those from Shiv Sena
protested.
"We will not tolerate if somebody talks against Hindutva," Shiv Sena member Chandrakant Khaire said.
Bureau Report
