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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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