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Attacks on Christians will mar BJP's credibility: Hegde

Union Commerce Minister and Lok Shakti president Ramakrishna Hegde today said the attacks on Christians in Gujarat, allegedly by Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal activists, would mar the credibility of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which had got a golden chance to rule the country.

Addressing workers of his party, Hegde said Prime Minister A B Vajpayee should take firm action in this regard. He said Lok Shakti would not compromise on the basic principle of secularism at any cost.

Later, talking to journalists, Hegde condemned the attacks on Christians in Gujarat. He said they were against the spirit of the Constitution, which gives Christians the same rights as other communities to live peacefully in India.

Meanwhile, according to the United Christian Forum for Human Rights, there were 108 incidents of anti-Christian violence in the country in 1998, 59 in Gujarat alone.

The forum, which sent a team to Gujarat yesterday to assess the situation there in the wake of the recent attacks on Christians, said 28 Christian-run units were attacked or destroyed in the state between June and November 1998, and 20 since Christmas.

More than 12 persons, including two priests, a nun and four women, were seriously injured in the violence since December 25. Vehicles, houses and shops were also destroyed.

The forum called upon the Centre to ensure that the violence does not spill over into the new year, and said the assurances given by the prime minister and home minister must be seen to be implemented by the political, civil and police authorities in Gujarat, specially in the worst-hit districts of Dangs and Surat.

The Janata Dal today demanded a ban on the VHP. In a statement in New Delhi, general secretary Wasim Ahmed criticised the Centre for being soft on the fundamentalist groups that were trying to spread communal hatred.

He urged the opposition parties to launch a movement against the VHP, which, he said, is making a determined bid to destroy the country's secular ethos.

UNI

The Christian attacks row

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