Government wants to trade security for votes : BJP

New Delhi, Aug 30 (UNI) Taking exception to the Centre' move to seek consensus on erecting a bullet-proof structure at the disputed site at Ayodhya, the BJP today said that ''such thinking betrayed a dishonest intention of trading security for votes of the minorities in the light of coming elections in Uttar Pradesh.'' ''The talks of consensus on an issues like security is unthinkable but the government had done this after proposing to erect a bullet-proof structure after the attack in Ayodhya and the blasts at the Sankat Mochan temple at Varanasi,'' BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said, adding that this kind of backtracking was only after some Muslim groups opposed erection of the bullet-proof structure ahead of elections in UP.

Stressing that providing security to a place of worship should depend on its sanctity, threat perception and intelligence inputs, he said that the government, after proposing bullet-proofing of Ayodhya structure after an attack on it was foiled, was going back following objections by some Muslim individuals.

''The government has nothing but votes in its mind,'' he alleged, citing the agenda of the Congress and Left Parties which made release of the master mind behind the Coimbatore blasts an election issue in Kerala Assembly elections.

Mr Prasad said if the government buckles under pressure of such fundamentalist forces, than it would not be sending the ''right kind of message to the terror merchants.'' ''Such messages only strenghten the resolve the terrorists bent upon causing trouble for the country,'' he noted.

Asked if the BJP state governments would make singing of Vande Mataram compulsory for all madarasas, Mr Prasad, a Law Minister in the former NDA government, said it was wrong to presume that those institutions were against singing the national song.

Noting that it was the Union Government, which decided to observe centenary celebrations of Vande Mataram -- sung at the All India Congress Committee session at Kashi on September 7, 1905, he claimed that ''90 per cent Muslims are for singing the national song but the government is afraid of couple of Ulemas in Hyderabad and Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid.'' He said when Home Minister Shivaraj Patil was Lok Sabha Speaker it was decided that every Parliament Session shall begin with the Jana Gana Mana, the National Anthem and conclude with Vande Mataram, the national song. ''We expect all to people sing national song for two minutes as a respect for the freedom struggle'', he said.

About the death of a Professor at Ujjain after being allegedly beaten to death by student groups, Mr Prasad said the the party condemned the killing and wanted all those responsible to brought to the book. The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister had assured that the government would ensure that the people responsible for the death would be dealt according to law. ''Nobody involved in this heinous crime should not be spared,'' Mr Prasad said.

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