BJP flays probe into land allotment to Sangh bodies

The probe ordered into allotment of land to educational institutions allegedly patronised by the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and its sister organisations during Ananth Kumar's tenure as the urban development minister came in for flak from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government did the right thing by allotting for the first time, land in the Capital to nationalist organisations engaged in educational, social and cultural activities," said BJP chief M Venkaiah Naidu.

"If there has to be a probe, let there be one that goes into all land allotments by the Congress and the Congress-supported regimes," he said. That would show how the Congress and its affiliates including the Communists had secured prime sites, he said.

The BJP also protested against the omission of Gujarat from the national anthem printed in school textbooks in Kerala. The books, printed by the State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT) has for the second year running failed to mention the state's name, which otherwise appears in the third line of the national anthem.

Criticising the repeat of omission, Naidu said even after the then NDA government had pointed it to the state government it had failed to correct it.

"The omission can be termed as a mistake only once. If it is repeated despite the mistake being pointed out then it is a deliberate effort," he said. "It is atrocious, highly objectionable and we condemn it," the BJP chief said.

"It is shameful that the national anthem has been altered. The Congress-led governments are becoming adept at insulting our national symbols," he said. "These appear to be the model of textbooks that are likely to come from Arjun Singh and company," he said.

"The Kerala education minister, a member of the Muslim League, should give an explanation on the matter, he said. He demanded immediate steps to correct it.

The BJP has also set up a panel to look into demographic matters after the release of the religion-based census. The panel, called Demographic Invasion will be headed by former Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi. Other members include Arun Shourie, and Sushil Kumar Modi.