Ruling party makes its anti-war cry official now

Sources said that the draft of the resolution, moved by general secretary Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, had been cleared by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani though both remained silent during the discussion on the issue. Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha, assisted by party general secretary Pramod Mahajan, sat through the proceedings vetting the draft. Thanks to the two leaders’ obsession with semantics, given their implication in the international arena, the words ‘‘strongly condemns’’ in the opening sentence were substituted with ‘‘deplores.’’ When asked later if there was any dissent, Mahajan said: ‘‘The executive was in agreement with the basic ethos of the resolution.’’

He did not agree with the contention that the harsh language used by the BJP would embarrass the government. He said, ‘‘The Government has to be more diplomatic, while the party can be candid in making its comments.’’ He said in reply to a question that the coalition partners ‘‘want to win and before winning, want to destroy everything.’’

As for the sudden turn in Government view, which had earlier shot down opposition demand for a unanimous parliamentary resolution, sources had a different perspective, forced by Colin Powell’s stated plan to turn to South Asia after the Iraq war. Since the US had attacked Iraq citing a perceived threat from supposed weapons of mass destruction, his emphasis on the possibility of a nuclear flare-up in South Asia had alarmed India.

Apprehending US pressure on this count to do business with Pakistan, the Government was keen on putting the US on the defensive over Iraq on the one hand and bring the issue of terrorism and Pakistan back in to the focus. Therefore, the same resolution went on to emphasise ‘‘the need for the international community to remain focused on the global war against terrorism and to eschew double standards in this campaign. The epicentre of international terrorism is located in Pakistan. It is here that the most serious manifestation of a nexus between authoritarian rule, weapons of mass destruction, drug trafficking and terrorism flourish.’’

In a clear attempt to pre-empt New Delhi from being bracketed with Islamabad, the BJP said, ‘‘The horrifying massacre of innocents that recently took place in Nadimarg is but an example of how the crisis in Iraq is being used by the patrons of terrorism to engage in diversionary tactics and to advance their political goal of spreading conflict and vilence within India.’’

Those who spoke on the resolution included Petroleum Minister Ram Naik, Health Minister Sushma Swaraj, Law Minister Arun Jaitley, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Ravi Shankar Prasad. It was left to Modi to call for a condemnation of war irrespective of the communities involved. ‘‘Even the Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti has denounced it,’’ he said.