Centre, Bengal responsible for Taslima’s plight: Advani

Releasing a book—Secular Politics, Communal Agenda—by Prof Makhan Lal, Advani touched upon the issue of Ayodhya and Ram Mandir for the first time after he was announced as BJP’s prime minister candidate. He contrasted the situation under which Somnath temple was constructed and the impasse over Ayodhya. “Over the issue of Somnath temple, there was agreement across parties and leaders and it was a Government decision. Gandhi, Nehru and Patel endorsed the decision and nobody said it was against secularism. But by the time the demand for a temple at Ayodhya came about, the then PM Rajiv Gandhi could not take a similar decision because pseudo-secularism had gained prominence by then,” he said. Advani, now on a mission to expand his influence as wide and far as possible before the prime ministerial bid, was careful to avoid a further controversy over the issue.

Advani said he had heard that the UPA Government was putting pressure on Taslima Nasreen to leave India and go away to any other part of the world of her choice. “It is, indeed, ironic that the Congress-Communist combine, which has actively colluded in the influx of 1,20,53,950 illegal Bangladeshi migrants (as on December 31, 2001) in Assam, West Bengal and other parts of the country, cannot give protection to a single hapless woman who is a victim of religious persecution in her own country. Many of these infiltrators have been given not only shelter but also ration cards and voting rights,” he said adding that the Congress and Communists had been using the illegal immigrants from Bangladesh as vote bank and trying to do away with the Illegal Migrants Determination by Tribunal Act. He said it was the responsibility of the Central and state governments to ensure Nasreen’s security and religious extremists who try to harm her must be dealt with according to the law of the land.