Advani slams Cong for Amarnath Board land row

Bhopal, Jul 1 (UNI) Firing a broadside at the Congress, senior BJP leader L K Advani today said the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) land row has exposed perverted secularism of the Congress.

Talking to newspersons at the airport here today, Mr Advani said, ''Respecting every religion and tradition is secularism. But not caring about feelings and facilities of majority is sign of perverted secularism.'' He alleged that the Jammu and Kashmir Government had decided to revoke land allotment to the Amarnath Shrine Board under the pressure of Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government.

Mr Advani asked what was the difficulty in providing basic facilities to pilgrims for Amarnath Yatra when such facilities were made available to pilgrims undertaking Vaishno Devi Yatra.

Raising the issue of construction of 'Ram temple' in Ayodhya, he pointed out that after independence, Cabinet-led by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had decided to construct Somnath temple.

He asked what was the difficulty in constructing 'Ram temple' in Ayodhya now.

On why initiative was not taken during the previous BJP-led National Democratic Alliance rule to construct Ram temple, the BJP leader said efforts were made during that time.

''Other key issues will be the delay in executing Mohammad Afzal Guru -- who was convicted for attacking Parliament -- and the Ram Setu issue,'' he said.

Referring to surging inflation, Mr Advani said the Congress and its allies would have to pay heavy price for it during the upcoming Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha elections. He felt that early Lok Sabha polls could not be ruled out.

On Indo-US Nuclear Deal, he said the BJP favoured nuclear relations with the US but did not want to assure it that India would not conduct Pokharan III.

He said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should take a tough stand in the Amarnath Shrine Board matter like he has done over the nuclear deal.

Replying to another question, Mr Advani said a lot of progress has been made in Tourism Sector, especially Religious Tourism, in Madhya Pradesh.

The BJP's prime ministerial candidate was here to attend the release function of Hindi translation of his book 'My Country, My Life' last evening.

Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar, Yoga Guru Ramdev, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh were present in the book release function.

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