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Congress complains to President against Gujarat government

The Congress today urged President K R Narayanan to force the Centre to invoke Article 355 of the Constitution and get the Gujarat government headed by Keshubhai Patel to prevent the systematic attacks on the Christian community for the past several months.

A four-member team led by former Union minister Manmohan Singh called on Narayanan at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Saturday afternoon and submitted a memorandum asking the Centre to put the Gujarat government on watch.

The delegation stopped just short of demanding the dismissal of the state government.

The delegation, which included Pranab Mukherjee, Ahmed Patel and Meira Kumar, all members of the Congress Working Committee, was with the President for over 30 minutes.

Sources said the President expressed concern at the continuing attacks on Christians.

The memorandum signed by all four politicians spoke of the breakdown in law and order in Gujarat and demanded that the Centre issue a clear warning to the government.

They told the President that the flow of aggressive statements and destructive actions by wings of the Sangh Parivar must stop and the government in Ahmedabad must commit itself to a specific action plan to prevent such incidents.

Stating the deep concern of the Congress that the rights guaranteed to the minorities by the Constitution are under attack, they said neither the Centre nor the state government was showing a willingness to uphold the statute.

UNI

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