In 1957,Vajpayee's remark on Kashmir policy - "Hum Yudh jeeth gaye, sandhi har gaye, ab kashmir ka 1/3 hissa pakistan ke saath hain" In 1957 about peace with Pakistan "Main Shanti chahta hoon lekin kabristan ki nahin, jeevan ki. Aap agar yudh se bhagenge, to yudh aap ke peeche bhagega, par woh jo dhairya se yudh ka saamna karega woh na sirf apni hak ki raksha karegaa, shanti bhi sthapith karega" Dec 1997 to Times of India - "Sawaal yeh nahin hain ki pradhan mantri kaisa ho, sawaal yeh hai ki desh kaisa ho" Parliament in 1961- "If we have reservation in services on the grounds of religion, national spirit will never grow in the country. Will you ask someone his religion before giving a job?

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Vajpayee talks in Parliament in 1961 about Civil Code - A very interesting and valid point

Mr. Vajpayee in 1961 raised a very important issue regarding discrimination of marriage laws in the country. Mr Vajpayee speech about this as below:

"Constitution says there should be a common civil code. Why then is a separate law made for marriage for Hindus and Muslims? Should marriage laws be different for each community? Is bigamy bad in Hinduism and good for Islam? How can a rule be applicable to one and not to the other? The Government recently set up a commission inquiring into misuse of Hindus temples and mutts. I welcome it, but do you think churches and mosques are not misused? Why no law has been brought in for this? When a state is concerned, everyone is the same"

Although the liberal attitude of Vajpayee is clearly visible and also the discrimination made while framing laws for one religion and not the other is sharply evident, I regret to tell that when Vajpayee was in power, he did not take any action to solve this problem of non-uniform civil code. However, what needs to be understood is the Congress party was following minority appeasement politics even in 1960's. In fact, one of the ministers at the same time was proposing reservation for government jobs on the basis of religion. Vajpayee sternly rejected it and said "That minister must resign because he did not believe in a secular democracy. A person selected on the basis of communal grounds and not on merit will spread communalism and how then can National spirit grow in the country? If Hindus become communal, then they should be opposed. Communalism of any religion should not be tolerated. Will you ask a candidate his religion before giving his job? We can understand reservation for Harijans and tribals as they are economically backward and socially discriminated against. I cannot find any logic on reservation on religious grounds"

I appreciate on the other hand that when BJP was in power it did not practice the idea of Reservation on religious lines as much as the so called "SECULAR, LIBERAL Congress is practicing". Mr. Vajpayee was against reservation even at that time in 1961 and also when he was PM. I fail to understand how an economist like Manmohan Singh supported the idea of reservation on religious lines. All for vote bank politics. If BJP did vote bank politics only once (1992 Rath Yatra), Congress has been doing it every time and will continue to do so. They have been eroding the fabric of secularism every time by stabbing one against the other. In reality neither Hindus nor Muslims have benefited as far as social fabric is concerned from the Congress.

The speech clearly exposes the biased and communal agenda followed by the Congress Govt since 1950's. Even today there is no national law for Muslims as far as marriage is concerned. It deeply disturbs me as a nation that we don't have a common law even for marriage in our system? The fine point is Vajpayee raising the issue of misuse of churches and mosques and not just Hindu temples. This is the answer to all those who even attempt to call Vajpayee a communal.

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