Modi flays advisories, states cautious

Gujarat CM Narendra Modi says that it is an attempt to target non-Congress governments and deflect public attention from the “simmering anger across the country against terrorism," reports HT Correspondents.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi led the BJP attack on the UPA on Friday for the Union Home Ministry advisories under Article 355 of the Constitution sent to Karnataka and Orissa government for the recent attacks on Christians and churches.

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At a rally organised at a recent blast site in New Delhi, he said it was part of the vote-bank politics. In a snide remark to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, he said, “Madam ko 355 candles ki aarti utaari gayi hai (It is an act to please Madam).”

Modi also said it was an attempt to target non-Congress governments and deflect public attention from the “simmering anger across the country against terrorism”.

However, the Central warnings have evoked disparate reactions in Orissa and Karnataka. This has brought the BJD and the BJP closer again against the Centre. The two parties had been drifting apart after the killing of Swami Laxmanananda.

But the Karnataka government has, under pressure, ordered a judicial enquiry into the violence and the subsequent protests by Christians in the coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and the neighboring Chikmagalur.

Insisting that the situation was normal in Orissa and Karnataka, BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said the action is an abuse of constitutional provisions. He said, “It is obvious that for the UPA, different rules exist for the Congress, the CPM and the BJP-ruled states.”

In Bhubaneswar, the advisory has stemmed the rot in the BJD-BJP alliance, at least for the time being. On Friday, BJP state president Suresh Pujari told Hindustan Times, “Both the BJP and BJD will oppose the Central move together.”

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said, “We have been trying our best to bring peace and normalcy to the troubled areas. But the Centre has been slow in sending forces. Till now, we have not received adequate forces, which we had asked for.”

But in Bangalore, the scene was quite different, with the state government ordering a probe into the communal violence. Home minister Dr V.S. Acharya admitted, “It is due to various reasons and pressures.” Initially, the government ordered a Corps of Detectives probe, but upgraded it to a judicial enquiry in less than 24 hours.