PROMINENT CLERIC Maulana Kalbe Jawad on Sunday urged all non-Congress constituents to withdraw support to the United Progressive Alliance Government, as it had voted in favour of the resolution against Iran.
Talking to mediapersons at a hurriedly convened press conference here, Maulana Jawad said that by toeing the US line on Iran, the Congress, which had “a history of betraying members of the minority community”, had once again demonstrated its “anti-Muslim stance”.
“Be it the decimation of Urdu, the unlocking of the gates of the disputed shrine or the shilanyas in Ayodhya, the Congress has almost always backstabbed the Muslims on issues related to them,” he said.
The Government’s decision on Iran came as a humiliation for all right thinking citizens of the country, who valued democratic principles and denounced the bullying tactics adopted by the US, he said.
By siding with the US, the Congress had not only endorsed the atrocities that were being committed by America, but also proved that the party was willing to sacrifice all principles to secure its own interest. “It is my appeal to all the Left parties, the SP and the BSP to withdraw support to the government,” said the cleric, adding that the Congress had kept its UPA alliance partners in the dark on the issue.
“We would like to know what exactly was the pressure exerted by the US on the government, or what were the compulsions that compelled it to vote in favour of the resolution,” he asked.
{{/usCountry}}“We would like to know what exactly was the pressure exerted by the US on the government, or what were the compulsions that compelled it to vote in favour of the resolution,” he asked.
{{/usCountry}}The Maulana said that he would convene a national conference of religious scholars of various communities after Moharram to debate the issue, in both Lucknow and New Delhi.
Fired-up SP activists burn effigies
THE SAMAJWADI Party, on Sunday, resorted to a Statewide agitation against the UPA Government’s support to an anti-Iran resolution at an IAEA meeting.
The SP said the Congress-led UPA Government had surrendered its independent foreign policy under US pressure.
Samajwadi Party State president Ram Saran Das and general secretary Shiv Pal Singh Yadav said here on Sunday that, at the SP-Left Front rally in Lucknow on November 13, 2005, the UPA Government was asked to oppose the US-sponsored proposal against Iran on the nuclear issue.
The SP said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had lowered the image of the nation by supporting the resolution. In this connection, the SP held demonstrations at the district headquarters all over the State.
The SP State president said that the UPA Government had assured the nation that India would not vote against Iran at the IAEA, but both Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi had surrendered before the US. He said India had always followed an independent foreign policy, which the UPA had now abandoned.
The party leaders assembled near Vidhan Bhawan and burnt effigies of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh. Similar protest rallies were also held in Agra, Meerut, Bareilly, Allahabad, Jhansi, Varanasi and other places.