Indian coalition wins vote, but victory is bitter By M.R. Narayan Swamy, Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi, May 1 (IANS) India's ruling coalition won a parliamentary vote on its handling of Gujarat's bloody sectarian strife after a marathon debate that ended just before dawn Wednesday, but it was clear the multi-party combine had been bruised. An opposition-sponsored motion flaying the federal and Gujarat governments for failing to check the death and destruction in the state was defeated 276-182 in the Lok Sabha after 16 hours of discussions marred by acerbic verbal duels. Many of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's allies, while backing the government, denounced Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and sought his sacking for not curbing the largely anti-Muslim fury that has claimed around 925 lives since February-end. Vajpayee as well as Home Minister L.K. Advani did not accept the demand but, faced with an all-round attack on Modi, sounded conciliatory. For the first time in two months, the prime minister criticised Hindu extremism. After a suspected Muslim mob set fire to a train killing 58 Hindu passengers February 27 in Gujarat, Hindu fanatics went on a revenge spree, massacring hundreds of innocent Muslims and destroying their property. Advani, who has remained largely silent on the horrendous killings in Gujarat, said: "There is no place for revenge in a civilised society. Both the train tragedy and the violence in the aftermath are tragic, painful and unfortunate." Vajpayee, whose image as a moderate has taken a beating in recent times, was more explicit. He said Hindu fundamentalism, like its Islamic counterpart, also posed a danger to society. "I have never supported proponents of hardline Hindutva," he said, referring to rightwing Hindu groups allied to his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who advocate a Hindu supremacist society in place of a secular state. And in what was clearly a vote against Gujarat's BJP government led by Modi, he announced a Rs.1.5 billion package for the relief and rehabilitation of the victims of violence whose implementation he said would be monitored by the federal government. This would have to be completed in four months, he said. But both the opposition and the government allies felt Vajpayee's gesture had come too late in the wake of what is seen as the worst Hindu-Muslim strife in an Indian state since the country's independence in 1947. Worse, extensive documentation by rights and civic groups, the media and the opposition has sought to prove that the Gujarat government was abetted by sections of the BJP and its allied Hindu organisations such as the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS). The RSS is the BJP's ideological mentor and is also India's most influential Hindu group. Hindu groups have sought to present the violence as a spontaneous "upsurge" in the wake of the train killings. The debate on the Gujarat motion began at noon Tuesday and went on until 4.30 a.m. rpt a.m. Wednesday. More and more MPs were clamouring to speak when Deputy Speaker P.M. Sayeed finally called for a vote. Both the debate and the vote exposed the fissures within the ruling coalition. Coal Minister Ram Vilas Paswan set the ball rolling Monday by quitting the cabinet and the ruling combine to protest against the killings in the BJP-ruled state. On Tuesday Minister of State for External Affairs Omar Abdullah offered his resignation after his National Conference party decided not to vote in support of the government. Another Vajpayee backer, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, praised Paswan for resigning from the government and, along with another ally, the Janata Dal (United), blasted Chief Minister Modi. All 28 MPs of the Telugu Desam Party, the largest prop of the Vajpayee-led coalition, trooped out of the Lok Sabha before the vote after the prime minister rejected its demand for Modi's ouster. Former defence minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, who initiated the debate Tuesday, later claimed a moral victory for the opposition. "We have not lost," he told reporters after coming out of the Lok Sabha just before dawn Wednesday. "We have exposed the gaping holes in the ruling combine. We have shown they are a house divided." --Indo-Asian News Service =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-W-E-B---S-I-T-E-=-=-= To Subscribe/Unsubscribe from GoaNet | http://www.goacom.com/goanet =================================================================== For (un)subscribing or for help, Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dont want so many e=mails? Join GoaNet-Digest instead ! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Help support non-commercial projects in Goa by advertizing!! * * * * Your ad here !!
