The BJP on Sunday reportedly downplayed the “Akhand Bharat” remarks of its general secretary Ram Madhav, saying while he has a right to his own views, the party and the government are clear that India
The BJP on Sunday reportedly downplayed the “Akhand Bharat” remarks of its general secretary Ram Madhav, saying while he has a right to his own views, the party and the government are clear that India and Pakistan are two sovereign nations even as news agency reports from Hyderabad said that Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan has favoured India, Pakistan and Bangladesh becoming a “Mahasanghatan” (federation) with a common currency and open trade.
In New Delhi, responding to a series of questions on the issue, a BJP spokesperson recalled the speech of then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee delivered in Lahore in 1999 in which he had said that India and Pakistan negotiate as sovereign nations. “And that fact is a fact,” the party spokesperson said.
When asked as to why an important general secretary made these remarks when the stand of the party and the government are clear, the BJP spokesperson said Mr Madhav “was answering to a particular question... He has a right to his own views. But the government’s position requires no clarification.”
Mr Madhav had reportedly said that RSS believes that India, Pakistan and Bangladesh will one day reunite again not by war but through “popular goodwill”.
“The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) still believes that one day these parts, which have for historical reasons separated only 60 years ago, will again, through popular goodwill, come together and Akhand Bharat will be created,” Mr Madhav was quoted by news agencies as telling the Al Jazeera channel, adding, “As an RSS member, I also hold on to that view.”
Meanwhile, Mr Paswan was quoted as telling news agency PTI in Hyderabad, “We cannot say if they (the three countries) can reunite or not; if they reunite, it’s very good thing. At least if they don’t become one nation (again), it can become a federation (‘Mahasanghatan’ as he put it).”
“Bharat, Pakistan and Bangladesh were all in one nation (earlier),” the LJP chief said when asked for his views on BJP general secretary Ram Madhav’s recent statement that RSS believes that the three nations would one day reunite again not by war but through “popular goodwill”.
“These three nations can become a ‘federation’,” Mr Paswan said, mooting the idea of common currency, open trade and lifting of restrictions on movement of people. “This will put an end to terrorism to a large extent,” he added.
Mr Paswan also described Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s last week’s surprise visit to Lahore as a “masterstroke” and said it is an attempt to link the hearts of the people of the two countries. “People on both the sides of the border want ‘permanent friendship’ between the two countries. Only terrorists oppose good bilateral relations between New Delhi and Islamabad,” Mr Paswan was quoted as saying.
