Vajpayee denies atrocities on Christians
Standing by his earlier statement about the need for a national debate on religious conversions, Vajpayee said he had asked for the debate after having been told that conversion is one of the reasons for the riots in Gujarat.
He denied that atrocities are being committed on Christians in Gujarat. "The secular feeling is inherent in the culture of the party and the government and any such allegation is categorically denied," he said.
Asked about the National Commission for Minorities' report blaming the Gujarat government for the riots, Vajpayee said he had not seen the report.
Asked if the atrocities on Christians had anything to do with Sonia Gandhi's rise, he said, "I don't think so."
Vajpayee denied that the activities of the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad are earning the BJP a bad name. "These organisations are independent and have their own work to do," he said.
He called his reported differences with the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh a creation of the media and said "newspapers should stop writing about this".
Asked to comment on Union Commerce Minister Ramakrishna Hegde's statement that a front of the BJP's allies is being formed, Vajpayee said he does not foresee any such front. "Even if it comes up, it will have no clash with the government," he added.
UNI
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