PM tells Muslims to shed fear

'Benefits of development being experienced by everyone'

Speaking to Muslims through the prism of India's recent goodwill gestures to Pakistan, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee exhorted minorities to give up the "fear psychosis" and appealed to them to "think and decide," for themselves in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

In an indirect reminder to Muslims that India was a democracy unlike Pakistan, he said he never thought he would become the Prime Minister.

"But one of the inherent strengths of democracy is that the government can be installed and toppled according to the wishes of the people," he said.

"Get out of the fear that is dividing the nation and vote for a government that does not believe in allowing any community to live in fear," he told the minorities.

This has been interpreted by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as a double entendre, meant as much for the BJP-inclined Hindus as Muslims. The Prime Minister was addressing a minorities conference organised by the BJP minority cell.

"India is at a turning point and we want to improve the well-being of the people and, therefore, will never allow a situation to be created at the time of elections that could harm the prevailing situation," he said.

In this context, he asked Muslims to vote the way their head told them. "Today, there is peace in the country and communal harmony is being maintained. Stray incidents are checked. Nobody is allowed to foment trouble," he said.

Vajpayee dwelt extensively on his recent visit to Pakistan, leveraging that to get into the Muslim psyche. "There is peace along the border with Pakistan and no firing is taking place," he said, adding such a situation had not occurred for years.

"Today, soldiers of the two sides meet and shake hands. They feel this kind of peace should continue. People from both India and Pakistan are now visiting each other and this should continue. If walls cannot be brought down, at least the windows should be kept open and if that is not possible, then one should see each other through the ventilators," he said.

"If we have to fight, we have to fight against poverty and unemployment, not with each other. We have fought wars and seen those consequences as well," he said.

Vajpayee said his Lahore visit was a good opportunity but it was lost. But, he said, he did not lose heart and made another attempt to better relations with Islamabad.

Countering the charge that the BJP was a communal party, Vajpayee said there was no basis for the allegation. "If we wanted we could have floated a party of Hindus after Independence. But the Muslim League is surviving because it is being patted by the Congress," he said criticising the existence of different yardsticks to measure secularism.

He said the benefits of development were being experienced by everyone, not just Hindus or Muslims. Attacking the Congress, he recalled that Muslims were told that if they failed to vote for that party, they would be sent to Pakistan.

On cricket, he said Indian players would play wherever they were asked to - including Karachi. "But the atmosphere created for sporting links should be maintained," he stressed.

Earlier, BJP chief M Venkaiah Naidu sought to paint the Opposition black, especially the Congress, holding it responsible for "using Muslims as vote banks".

Finance Minister Jaswant Singh too made a scathing attack on the Congress, accusing it of using Muslims as vote bank and said: "Forget the feeling of being minor because of being minority. This government believes in the economic progress for all and not for one particular person or group."