Alert over fallout of Srikrishna report

To stall such an eventuality, a worried Chief Minister Manohar Joshi accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde called on Union Home Minister L K Advani on Sunday, urging him to repeal Section 3(4) of the Commission ofInquiry Act, 1952, which makes it binding on the state government to table the report before the Legislature along with the Action Taken Report within six months of the date of its submission. Joshi and Munde told the Home Minister that publishing the report could propel the state into another orgy of violence. Apart from the obvious need to maintain law and order, the alliance government does not want to tar its record, which has been devoid of any large-scale outbreak of communal violence since it assumed power in 1995.

Justice Srikrishna submitted his report to the state government in February 1998, and the Commission of Inquiry Act requires the government to table the document before August 1998. Hence, it is not binding on the government to table the report during the ongoing Budget session but both Joshi and Munde have already committed themselves to tabling the report during the current session.

While Munde had promised to disclose its contents to the House in the second week, Joshi later toldmembers his government would try to table the report by April 20.

Meanwhile, the report may have driven a wedge between the two ruling alliance partners on the controversial issue. A senior BJP minister said his party has no objection to tabling the report during the ongoing session.“I don’t think the three-year-old government will face any crisis,” he said. Joshi was not available for comment but a Sena minister said the question of tabling the report does not arise if there is so much as a hint of problems for the alliance government. “It has already been delayed. There is no point deliberating on the recommendations pertaining to incidents which took place five years ago,” he said.