There is no threat to any religion or to the nation
under the present Bharatiya Janata Party- led government
at the Centre, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq
Abdullah has said.
''Dr Farooq Abdullah will not become Hindu merely
because the BJP government is in power in Delhi,'' he
said while speaking at a function to celebrate the 600th
birth anniversary of Sant Kabir at Kunjwani near Jammu
last night.
Dr Abdullah decried frequent attempts at destabilising
and toppling governments at the Centre before they could
do any good for the people, and said this tendency would
weaken the country . He warned that this type of
instability in the country had almost brought the
process of development to a standstill.
In this context, he recalled that the H D Deve Gowda
government was pulled down before it could hardly
complete eight months in office. The Inder Kumar Gujral
government which succeeded Deve Gowda's, was also pulled
down soon, he said.
Now the A B Vajpayee government had hardly completed 100
days when attempts to topple his government had started,
he said.
''What is wrong with the Vajpayee government and where
is the need to pull it down?'' he asked.
He said every government had a responsibility towards
the country and its people, and they should be given
sufficient time to perform and deliver the goods.
Abdullah said, "As compared to our country prime
ministers and presidents in foreign countries remain in
power six to seven years and even for 14 years as in
France. On the other hand, in our country the life of
the government was hardly more than few months," he
said, and added, ''Where we are heading for?''
The chief minister said while our country has progressed
tremendously since Independence in terms of trade and
industry, "what has not changed is our mentality of
leg-pulling", a tendency which will impede the progress
and prosperity of the country.
''This calls for introspection at every level," he
added.
The chief minister declined to accept the demand for
holiday on Kabir's birthday, saying that people should
work hard and do something positive for the society
rather than enjoying holiday on one pretext of the
other. He said there was a need to slash down the number
of holidays and to let people work and make the country
strong.