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Journalism of Courage
8226; One should carefully read between the lines in the rather innocuous sounding gestures of Pervez Musharraf of first calling up Sonia Gandhi and then, after a gap of a few days, A.B. Vajpayee. In this crucial gap of a few days, our external affairs minister reiterated the consistent stand of the Congress that the dialogue with Pakistan on all issues, including J038;K, should be 8220;on the basis of the historic Shimla Agreement of 19728221; and the Sino-Indian model. Pakistan reacted rather violently because its present regime wants to distance itself from any policy that does not give primacy to J038;K.
The BJP had stressed in its manifesto for a lasting resolution of all the outstanding issues with Pakistan, including J038;K, based on the joint statement issued in Islamabad in February 2004. Against this background, Musharraf has signalled his preference for Sonia Gandhi, who doesn8217;t carry the historical load of Kashmir, to lead the Indian side, and not Natwar Singh who is of the 8220;cold war8221; mentality and a proponent of a hard stand on Kashmir. This is confirmed by his call to Vajpayee showing his inclination towards the joint statement issued in Islamabad in February 2004. Sonia has the 8220;people8217;s8221; mandate. She is the Congress party chief, chairperson of the Congress8217;s parliamentary wing and the chairperson of the UPA. She, thus, has the real consent of the majority of Indians.
8212; S.C.N. Jatar Pune
The time has come for the new GOI to squarely face the dilemma. Give up the appeasement of Muslims as well as vicariously of Hindus. If necessary, publicly consult 1,500 or so Muslim leaders from all over India. Let them now tell the world their choice. The Hindus would accept it for the sake of a settlement.
8212; Prafull Goradia New Delhi
Think young
8226; L.K. Advani has just been made the leader of the Opposition. That is perhaps the only workable solution for the BJP. However, it would have been better to have projected younger MPs like SushmaSwaraj, Pramod Mahajan, Arun Jaitley or Rajnath Singh. The time has come for the BJP to gracefully bid goodbye to both the senior leaders of the party. The command should be given to the new generation, since in the next election the party would need a youthful leader to lead it, especially since the Congress will most certainly project Rahul/Priyanka as its leader.
8212; Ashok Bahuguna On e-mail
