Concerned Cong asks President to intervene

A high-profile Congress delegation led by senior party leader Manmohan Singh met President K R Narayanan this afternoon and submitted a detailed memorandum apprising him of the growing incidence of violence and attacks on minority communities in the Gujarat.

“These are not isolated or stray incidents”, the Congress maintains but a `well-planned campaign’ by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and other allied organisations of the Sangh Parivar to instil fear in the minds of the minority community and to disturb the traditions of tolerance that exist in the state.

The delegation, which alsoincluded senior Congress leaders Pranab Mukherjee, Ahmed Patel and Meira Kumar, all members of the Congress Working Committee, had a 30-minute long meeting with the President at Rashtrapati Bhawan.

As the wave of attacks on Christian educational institutions and churches in the three South Gujarat districts of Dangs, Bulsar and Surat continued unabated, the Opposition parties have met the President to register their concerns. Leaders of the two Left parties met Narayanan a few days ago over the same issue.

Concerned that the rights of the minority community guaranteed by the Constitution are being eroded, the Congress accused both the Centre and the state government of failing to take stern measures to uphold the Constitution both in its letter and spirit.

While the Congress is convinced that the state government is neither willing nor capable of upholding the secular ideals embedded in the Constitution, reasons strong enough to warrant the sacking of the Keshubhai Patel-led ministry in Gujarat, it doesnot insist on the removal of the government.Instead the party has demanded that the aggressive and provocative statements spewed by leaders of the Sangh Parivar be stopped immediately. And that the state government commit itself to a specific action plan to prevent incidents of violence and vandalism from recurring.

Meanwhile in Bangalore, the all India United Christian Voice today requested President K R Narayanan to instruct the Vajpayee Government to take every possible action to put a stop to `all unlawful actions against Christians in Gujarat, instead of making soothing statements’.

In a fax message to the President, the Christian Voice said a more pragmatic confidence-building measure should be initiated without any further loss of time.

“The unabated acts of vandalism in Gujarat are not isolated instances but are in the scheme of events leading to subduing and intimidating the minority community”, it said.

It also requested the President to set up a monitoring cell at Rashtrapati Bhavan to“nip in the bud the activities of the fundamentalist elements and organisations, who are bent on destroying the secular fabric of the nation.”