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January 4, 2001

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BJP backs Vajpayee on J&K, Ayodhya

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday stressed the need to rise above 'controversies and contentions' and build a consensus for a decade of development and lent full support to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's peace initiative in Kashmir and the government's stand on Ayodhya.

Inaugurating the two-day national executive meeting of the party, BJP president Bangaru Laxman said the party should become the 'true arbiter of the people's causes' to bring about total development as envisaged by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Calling on party cadres to involve people in development and change, he said party activism should help identify the ills and sore spots in society and bringing succour to the needy.

He said the ceasefire initiative had exposed the militant outfits and their Pakistani sponsors, who had nothing but a 'hate India' ideology.

Laxman said the terrorists were frustrated and would try to scuttle the peace initiative. The cadres must be vigilant about it and not allow them to disrupt communal harmony.

On Ayodhya, he criticised Opposition parties for raking up the controversy even as the prime minister clearly spelt out the ruling National Democratic Alliance's policy.

"I am confident that our partners in the NDA will carry on the good work conforming to 'coalition dharma','' he said.

The BJP president described the situation in Assam as "alarming" and said the "state is crying for change".

Hundreds of Hindi-speaking people have been killed in the state in two months and they are leading a life of 'fear and death'. "The government has failed miserably in discharging its fundamental duty of protecting the lives of people," he said.

Laxman promised that the BJP would restore peace in the state and provide good governance to the people of Assam after elections.

The situation in Manipur and Tripura was equally grave, he added.

Referring to recent violence in Nepal against Indians, Laxman said it was a 'deliberate attempt' by forces inimical to peace between India and Nepal.

"I suspect that this is a conspiracy to harm the interests of both countries," he said and urged the Government of Nepal to take steps to prevent such incidents and expose those fomenting trouble.

On the economic front, Laxman said reforms pursued by the government were moving in the right direction and schemes like the Antyodaya Anna Yojna and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna were major initiatives to reflect the government's pro-village policy. However, the government would have to give more attention to the plight of small industries and farmers, he said.

The country was facing the problem of foodgrain storage and it was imperative to create infrastructure for storage, export and utilisation of foodgrain for the hungry, poor and unemployed, the BJP president said.

There was also a need to curb dumping of cheap Chinese goods in the country, he said and hoped the government would take adequate steps.

Setting the agenda for deliberations, Laxman asked the executive to analyse the political situations in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Pondicherry and Assam going to the polls in future and devise a strategy to face elections.

There was a need to identify 'potential' allies as polls would provide immense opportunities to increase the party's strength substantially, he said. "The morale of party workers must be kept high so that they could face the challenge effectively," he said.

UNI

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