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Vajpayee asks Opposition to rise
above politics

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Wednesday morning told the Lok Sabha that he had never opposed Islam and asked the Opposition to rise above politics.

"My entire [political] life is before the House. I don't have any political ambitions. What I said in Godhra, I said in Goa," Vajpayee said in his 25-minute intervention in the marathon 16-hour debate in the Lok Sabha on the censure motion on the Gujarat issue.

Recalling his speech in Goa, he said there were two forms of Islam -- one that preached compassion, tolerance, harmony and the path to truth and peace and the other that spread hatred and terror in the name of jihad.

Vajpayee said he was also against Hindu fundamentalism, something that displeased a section of the followers of his government.

"Such allegations are being levelled against me to malign my image," he said.

"The Leader of Opposition Sonia Gandhi in her speech appealed to me to rise above party politics. I respect her sentiments. I want to rise above politics, but I cannot do it alone. Sonia Gandhi has also to rise with me," Vajpayee said

Referring to Gandhi's criticism that he had failed to take the initiative in getting a unanimous resolution adopted on the Godhra incident, Vajpayee said: "I admit my failure. I should have made more efforts in this regard."

Had the Sabarmati Express train incident been condemned in one voice, the subsequent violence could have been avoided, but unanimity could not be reached and "you [Opposition] did not allow the House to function," he said.

He also expressed pain at the brutalities unleashed in Gujarat.

"Rapists do not feel ashamed and the society does not condemn it. If this disease is not checked, it will affect our society and culture. This is a new crisis," Vajpayee said.

The prime minister expressed shock that even the well-to-do people of the state had indulged in looting shops.

Pointing out that a women's delegations had visited him while he was in Gujarat, the prime minister said while there was some truth in the reports of atrocities against them, much of it was exaggerated.

Attacking the media for its role in coverage of the Gujarat violence, Vajpayee said there was need for serious self-introspection by journalists.

He said there should be a ban on repeated telecast of gruesome scenes of riot and burnt bodies.

Though the government did not want to regulate the media, it should not identify the community of those killed in the riots, he said. "This promotes communalism."

With inputs from PTI

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