NEW DELHI, Nov 30: Indian Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishan Advani, campaigning for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat, dared Pakistan on Saturday to fight a fourth war with India if that would help end what New Delhi describes as cross- border terrorism.
Advani was quoted by Indian news media as saying at a public meeting in the Bhuj district of the troubled border state that Pakistan was nursing a wound since the creation of Bangladesh.
“Let us fight it out face-to-face. We have fought thrice. Let there be a fourth war,” Advani was quoted as saying.
Advani said he would welcome Pakistan fighting with the Indian forces. “But killing of innocent civilians by attacking temples like Akshardham and Raghunath is unacceptable.”
Pakistani officials have condemned the attacks as acts of terror.
Pakistan, and even more so President Pervez Musharraf, are a key issue in the state polls in Gujarat, where the BJP is fighting an increasingly uphill battle to retain power against a robust challenge from the Congress party.
The election has raised fears of deepening the communal divide in the state.
A typical election poster put up by the BJP’s campaign managers has Chief Minister Narendra Modi posing the question as a choice between him and “Mian Musharraf”.
As many as 2000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in what are now being described as state-sponsored pogroms in weeks following the burning of a train in Gujarat on Feb 27.
On Saturday, despite claims of non-involvement in politics, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, an arm of the BJP, said Godhra carnage witnesses would share their experience with the people of Gujarat before the assembly poll.
“It is only to expose the secular forces and certain politicians who are sending wrong signals by visiting institutes funded by jihadi terrorists,” he said, referring to Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s visit to the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies.
The VHP has sold about 1,000 T-shirts with a picture of the Sabarmati Express and a slogan, “We will not allow our village/ town to become another Godhra”.
The back of the T-shirt has a picture of Chhattrapati Shivaji with the message “Har Yuvak Bane Shivaji” [every youth should become Shivaji].
Almost 2.5 million badges and 10 million pamphlets with these messages are being circulated in the state.
Togadia said the relatives of those who died in the Godhra attack would attend rallies, but not address them.
The party has also come out with an eight-page booklet called “Think-Understand”, which, according to Togadia, “exposes the nature and working of secularists after the Godhra incident and their mentality towards the Kashmir issue”.
The Gujarat elections are being seen as the main reason for the uncertainty surrounding Atal Behari Vajpayee’s visit to Islamabad to attend the Saarc summit in January.
The Hindu newspaper said on Saturday the uncertainty attending the proposed Saarc summit in Pakistan was continuing, with India maintaining that the dates had not been finalized.