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| India-Pakistan |
| Vajpayee facing censure vote over Gujarat violence |
| 2002-04-23 |
| India's western state of Gujarat braced for fresh religious clashes on Tuesday as parliament prepared for a vote of censure of the national coalition government over its handling of the violence. The vote in parliament cannot topple the fragile 20-party coalition of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, which is under enormous pressure over its failure to contain the riots in which over 850 people, mostly Muslims, have been killed. But it would amount to a condemnation and embarrassment for Vajpayee's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which leads the coalition, if it were to lose the vote over India's worst religious violence in a decade. The decision of deputy speaker P.M. Sayeed to allow the vote came after a renewed upsurge in violence in Gujarat. Police said on Tuesday two men had died of injuries suffered in Hindu-Muslim clashes, taking the death toll since Saturday to 27. Violence continued in the city late on Monday night as mobs of Hindus and Muslims hurled petrol and stones at each other. The fighting first started after a Muslim mob torched a train carrying Hindu activists on February 27, burning 59 to death and triggering brutal reprisals against Muslims. Vajpayee is reaping what his backers have sown, which is too bad for him. If you lie down with skunks, you've got to be prepared for the smell. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |