BJP MP gives in to party fiat against aid to Dara

He charged that Gladys Staines, Graham’s widow, was still carrying out missionary work in Manoharpur area in Orissa with a hidden objective of conversion. “We will not allow conversion to take place in the garb of missionary work,” he claimed vowing to provide "best lawyers" to Dara to contest his case.

Judev who claimed to have reconverted some 2.5 lakh non-Hindus to Hinduism under aegis of Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram of the RSS and Arya Samaj, cited the exampleof Satwant Singh, Indira Gandhi’s assassin who was defended in court by Ram Jethmalani, now a member of the Vajpayee Cabinet. He claimed he had issued the statement in his individual capacity and not as BJP MP.

But minutes within his press conference, the BJP issued a statement saying Judev’s statement was contrary to the known stand of the party that the assassin must be arrested and punished through due process of law. The party president Kushabhau Thakre had thus directed Judev to withdraw his statement immediately, BJP press release said.

Judev though, resisted the pressure initially by saying he would not withdraw his statement, later succumbed to Thakre’s directive. “I am still discussing the next course of action with my friends. But there is no question of defying party resident’s instructions”, he told The Indian Expreess late tonight.