BJP to hold peaceful demonstration during Olympic torch relay

New Delhi, Apr 16 (UNI) The Delhi BJP will stage a peaceful demonstration in the city tomorrow when the Olympic Torch relay is held, party state unit president Harsh Vardhan said today.

''In this way, the party would articulate its sympathy for the estimated 200 innocent people who have reportedly been murdered by the Communist Police since the beginning of March,''Dr Harsh Vardhan told reporters here.

Addressing a press meet, the Delhi BJP chief said while the party recognised the Tibet Autonomous Region as part of China, it simultaneously upheld the Dalai Lama as a great spiritual leader of Tibetan people and a prophet of non-violence.

''The party is not against holding the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Our protest is not about politics but democracy and human rights','' Dr Harshvardhan said.

Dr Harsh Vardhan said the BJP would assemble youth and women supporters at Shahidi Park around noon tomorrow.

A large number of them will be women, as the Communists have especially targeted Tibetan women to terrify the population of the province. Dr Harsh Vardhan will be personally leading the protesters from his Party.

Dr Harsh Vardhan said already several religious and cultural groups have decided to stage protest against the Olympic Torch, which, in the people's perception, is regrettably a symbol of shame because a country which has no respect for human rights will be hosting this year's Summer Olympics.

''Not since 1936, when the Berlin Games was staged by the Nazis, that the concept of the Olympics been so tarnished,''he said.

Dr Harsh Vardhan asked the Central government to ensure that the estimated 100,000 Tibetans of Delhi are not subjected to police brutality while staging their demonstration against the Olympic Torch. He feared that ''the Communist backed'' Manmohan Singh Government might try to appease China by disallowing entry to the protesters in the India Gate area where the Torch Relay is to be held.

''In the past, too, Congress-Communist regimes in India have played lackey to brutal Communist regimes. This should not be a recurring theme in free India's history,'' Dr Harsh Vardhan said.

''If that happens, the image of India as the world's largest democracy will be tainted for succumbing to the pressure of a foreign, communist regime. Naturally, the BJP will not be found wanting in upholding the persona of Mother India as a respecter of religious and ideological diversity,''Dr Harsh Vardhan said.

UNI AR SP KN1756