archive: Peace cannot be one-sided, says Vajpayee
Peace cannot be one-sided, says Vajpayee
Arunkumar Bhatt
Not Known
June 27, 1999
Title: Peace cannot be one-sided, says Vajpayee
Author: Arunkumar Bhatt
Publiation: The Hindu
Date: June 27, 1999
PUNE, JUNE 26. On the snow-bound mountain ranges of the
Dras- Kargil-Batalik region, the unity of India has
manifested itself as jawans from every State, speaking
every language and belonging to every religion is found
making supreme sacrifice with a view to accomplishing
the mission of Operation Vijay, incarnating the ideals
of Chhatrapati Shivaji.
This commendation came from the Prime Minister, Mr.
Atal Behari Vajpayee, during a function in this
historic city, the capital of the Maratha empire, to
mark the 325th anniversary of the coronation of
Chhatrapati Shivaji, the warrior king.
This was evident, Mr. Vajpayee said, when he called on
several injured soldiers at an army hospital who did
not want to return home on recovery but only wanted to
proceed to the battle-field to continue the fight. In
the Kargil sector, he told the gathering, he had seen
jawans moving about fearlessly, amidst heavy shelling,
steadfast in their aim for victory. Shivaji's memory
was probably the inspiration in their march for
victory, he said amidst applause.
``We want peace but it cannot be one sided,'' he said
adding that he had gone to Lahore with good intentions
and never thought that the bus to Lahore would reach
Kargil but it did. The Prime Minister admitted that
this did create some difficulties in the beginning but
then the Indian armed forces handled the situation.
``The chapter of success is being written on every
summit,'' he said.
The function was organised by the Union Human Resource
Development Ministry to release commemoration coins of
the coronation. The Prime Minister had promised to get
the coins minted about three months ago while
participating in Shivaji's death anniversary
observance. He said Shivaji had added the chapter of
victory to the earlier chain of sacrifice beginning
with the heroic deeds of the Rajputs against foreign
invaders.
Mr. Vajpayee said Chhatrapati Shivaji was secular in
the true sense as against today's ``distorted
secularism'' for he paid equal respect to all religions
and never discriminated on the ground of religion. He
said the Muslims were his confidants, held high offices
in his army and one was even his foreign minister.
But while paying glowing tributes to Shivaji, the Prime
Minister did hint at the forthcoming Lok Sabha
elections and his expectation for better popular
support in the State though he was not as obvious as
the Chief Minister, Mr. Narayan Rane, and like the
latter did not criticise anybody without taking names.
Regarding the State Government's demand that the
sea-fort of Sindhudurg, on the Konkan coast, built by
Chhatrapati Shivaji be handed over to it for upkeep, he
favoured the step. ``But this might need some change in
the law and, I hope we will be able to do it and will
also get support for it.''
The HRD Minister, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi who presented
the coins to the Prime Minister said his Ministry would
mint similar coins in memory of philosopher Sant
Jnaneshwar, next month. The Union Finance Minister, Mr.
Yashwant Sinha, also addressed the gathering.
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