Author: Special Correspondent
Publication: The Hindu
Date: May 9, 2005
"Attempt to discredit judge as report
not to Congress liking"
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
leader Pramod Mahajan on Sunday alleged that there was a "method in the
madness" of the United Progressive Alliance Government to discredit Justice
S.N. Phukan Commission of Inquiry. The report was not what the Congress
wanted, he said.
Reiterating the party's demand that
the Phukan Commission report should be tabled in Parliament,. Mr. Mahajan
said the country needed to know what the report said and not the flights
Mr. Justice Phukan took in the Avro aircraft of the Indian Air Force.
"The report is with the Government
of India and Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee must have read it as he
has to prepare the action taken report. The report is not what they (Congress)
wanted. So they have adopted this method discrediting the judge and the
report," he said.
Mr. Mahajan, who has been appointed
party in-charge for the Assembly elections in Assam, was here to assess
the party's preparedness for the elections due in May 2006. Addressing
a press conference after meeting party functionaries, the senior BJP leader
said the constant influx of illegal migrants in Assam posed a security
threat to the entire nation.
Responding to a question, Mr. Mahajan
said it was a parliamentary standing committee headed by Mr. Pranab Mukherjee
that "lingered" on the Bill tabled by the NDA in Parliament for repealing
the Illegal Migrants (determination by Tribunal) Act . the people of Assam
had two options; either support the congress which wanted the Act to remain
or the BJP which wanted to scrap the Act.
Asked if the party would enter into
a pre-poll alliance with Asom Gana Parished, Mr. Mahajan said for the time
being an alliance was the last thing on this mind.
