RAJPURA, Sept 3: All India Shiromani Akali Dal president Gurcharan Singh Tohra today said the BJP was trying to divide the country on communal lines and appealed to the people not to cast their vote in favour of BJP and its allies if they wanted to see the country intact.Addressing an election rally here in favour of Prem Singh Chandumajra, AISAD-BSP-MCPI-BKU candidate for Patiala Lok Sabha seat, he said the BJP was playing an anti-minority role in the country and the minorities were feeling unsafe under their rule. He said the BJP is talking of a common civil law in the country and the Muslim community was feeling uncomfortable. He said same was the plight of Christians because they were ``facing attacks from BJP's own cadre due to fundamentalism''.
He said Vajpayee represents a fundamentalist party, whose policies if allowed to run will divide the country because BJP talks only about hindutva.
Touching upon anti-Punjab stance of Vajpayee, he said when the demand for the creation of Punjabi suba arose, nobody but Vajpayee had opposed it. He said out of the 21 members of the committee formed by Lal Bahadur Shastri on the issue, only Vajpayee had voted against it. He said Vajpayee and his party colleagues also took an anti-Punjab and Punjabis stance when they congratulated Indira Gandhi for ordering an attack on the Golden Temple in 1984.
Tohra said Badal has performed ``pucca anand karaj'' with Vajpayee and his party, though he has failed to get anything in exchange.
Speaking on the occasion, Chandumajra said Badal had failed on all fronts in the state. Satbir Kaur Manhera, senior leader of Bahujan Samaj Party, in her address exhorted the people to cast their votes against Badal-led forces.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.