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India-Pakistan
Vajpayee taking heat over VHP
2002-03-22
  • Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee faced criticism from friends and foes alike as pressure mounted on him to crack down on his party's traditional Hindu fundamentalist supporters. Though the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) backed down from a controversial plan to carry around the country the ashes of its supporters killed in religious violence, Vajpayee's coalition partners pushed him to do more to rein them in. Vajpayee, whose Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) comes from the same ideological family as the VHP, met his allies in the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to try to end a political storm over India's worst communal bloodshed in a decade.

    Vajpayee's allies were also incensed by a statement last weekend by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) which said minority Muslims must understand their safety lay in the goodwill of the majority. The RSS, or National Volunteer Corps, the ideological parent of the VHP and BJP, said it stood by its statement. "It is a statement of fact. We all have to live together," RSS head K.S. Sudarshan told reporters.
    It's a statement of fact that Vajpayee is ugly, too. Why would you bring it up unless you wanted to get a rise out of him?
    • Posted by:Fred Pruitt

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