Press Releases in November

STATEMENT OF DR.SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY, PRESIDENT
OF JANATA PARTY MADE IN MADURAI ON 29.11.2004

1. At the suggestion of the Shankaracharya of the Sringeri Mutt, I had written last year to President Musharaff of Pakistan (letter enclosed) to permit Hindu devotees to pray at the Ma Sharada Temple near Muzzafarabad, a town west of the Line of Control in Kashmir.

I have no been informed that the Pakistani Government has decided to renovate the temple, and permit pilgrims from India to pray at the temple.

In April 1981, at the suggestion of the Kanchi Parmacharya Chandrashekhara Saraswati, I had taken up with the Chinese the re-opening of Kailash & Manasarovar holy spot in Tibet. Chairman Deng Xiao ping personally intervened at my request and ordered its re-opening. I had then led the first batch of pilgrims in September 1981 to Manasarovar.

2. If the inspired police leaks continue to be published in Nakeeran magazine, I shall move the Madras High Court in a PIL to seek Court monitoring of the Kanchi Sankararaman murder case. The police will then have to file status reports at regular intervals before the Court to ensure fair investigation. Judging by the leaks, it seems that the police is trying to vitiate the forthcoming trial to prejudice the judicial opinion in favour of the prosecution.

(SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY)

Statement of Dr Subramanian Swamy, Janata Party President, made in Chennai on November 28, 2004

Pakistan President Gen Musharaff has suggested [according to media reports today] to India's puppet Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh that Ms. Sonia Gandhi, UPC Chairman, be made the mediator/negotiator between India and Pakistan in future talks between the two countries on outstanding issues. This is no surprise to me. What is however surprising is that that Dr. Singh who receives daily intelligence briefing should fail to see through Musharaff's clever ploy and instead welcome this sinister suggestion.

No patriotic Indian should agree to any such role for Ms. Sonia Gandhi in India-Pakistan negotiations because of her past unacceptable association with certain Pakistanis such as Salman Thassir [in London 1963-68] and the Ataullahs, Munir and Farida[since 1968]. Farida Ataullah was the guest of honour seated at the family head table during the formal wedding ceremony of Sonia's daughter Priyanka, and also stayed as Sonia Gandhi's guest in the Prime Minister's residence during the 1972 Simla Pact talks with Pakistan The Prime Minister should consult RAW dossiers to verify this fact because I know that the RAW had objected to this proximity several times since these Pakistanis have ISI connections.

The wily Gen. Musharaff has thus delivered a Catch-22 proposal to our Prime Minister. He knows that Ms. Sonia Gandhi cannot be a strong negotiator with such an unacceptable background. And yet she controls Dr. Singh who cannot say no to her because he is her puppet. Otherwise, he should have said no to the General and to mind his business. The Prime Minister has disgraced himself and the nation by welcoming it.

(SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY)

Statement of Dr. Subramanian Swamy, President of the Janata Party made in Chennai on November 20, 2004

1. On my complaint and on direction from the Election Commission, the UPA Chairman Ms.Sonia Gandhi has been questioned on November 16, 2004 by the Rae Bareli District Magistrate and Constituency Returning Officer Mr. Prem Goyal on her alleged filing of a false affidavit as part of her Lok Sabha nomination papers [see enclosed]. In this affidavit she had sworn to a statement falsely claiming to have been educated in the prestigous University of Cambridge, U.K., when she never was a student there according to a letter received by me from the University. In fact Ms.Gandhi has not even passed High School examination. It is a matter of shame for India that when the President of India and the Prime Minister are highly qualified Ph.Ds and have extensive research, Ms. Sonia Gandhi should sully the fair name of the country by lying about her qualifications. The Supreme Court had required every candidate to file an affidavit on his or her education qualification to enable the voter to choose meritorious candidates, but if people like Ms. Gandhi bluff the voters in this way, it is in fact a contempt of the Supreme Court besides being a criminal offence under Sections 177, 181 and 191 of the IPC.

2. The first public meeting of the Rashtriya Swabhimaan Manch will be held in Mavalankar Auditorium, New Delhi on November 27th to expose the threats to national security from the UPA government policies with particular reference to the style of functioning of the UPA chairman Ms. Sonia Gandhi. Issues such as the devaluation of the PM's post, softness on terrorism, and anti-national economic policies will figure as subjects in the speeches delivered. The meeting will be addressed among others by George Fernandes, P.A. Sangma, Uma Bharti, Sanjay Nirupam and myself. Later, RSM meetings will be held in other state capitals.

3. I have been invited to speak to a gathering of Chinese officials and scholars at Tsinghua University in Beijing on the "Politics and Economic Reform in India and China". I shall be in Beijing from December 2nd to 5th.

4. I welcome the Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh’s stand that on the Kashmir issue, India will not compromise on its existing international borders. The Indian Constitution does not in any case permit any reduction of Indian territory as the Supreme Court judgement in Beru Beri case has made clear.

But the PM should remove the widespread conceptual confusion on Kashmir once for all. This confusion was caused by Nehru’s foolish surrender to the UN Security Council in 1948, and which was later compounded by Vajpayee’s silly bid for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.

Hence, it should be now made clear that there is no enable legal claim whatsoever of Pakistan to even one inch of Kashmir. Princely States merged into India or Pakistan irrevocably under the Indian Independence Act (1947), and Kashmir had merged into India. There is no provision in the Act for a plebiscite or negotiated settlement to question such a merger. Pakistan cannot question that Act since its own creation was by that Act.

There is however a moral commitment for India to talk about Kashmir to Pakistan because of Nehru’s unilateral acceptance without cabinet approval of Kashmir as a disputed area. Hence, as long as a future Indian government does not disown Nehru’s surrender on Kashmir, India has to talk to Pakistan as a “party to the dispute”. Therefore, the PM cannot run with the hare and hunt with the hounds.

(SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY)


Statement of Dr.Subramanian Swamy, President of Janata Party, made in Coimbatore on 15.11.2004

The arrest and remand of Shankaracharya Sri Jayendra Saraswati of the Kanchi Mutt by the Tamil Nadu police on a murder charge is a make or break test for the Jayalalithaa state government. While it is an undeniable premise of democracy and the rule of law that no one is above the law, the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the police authority under law to arrest anyone on receipt of information of a commission of a cognisable offence should be exercised with great care and only when necessary for furtherance of the investigation. I have no way of knowing whether this is so in the Kanchi Shankaracharya's case. Since it is not the police's prima facie case that the Shankaracharya committed the murder but only that he conspired to abet it, his arrest was clearly premature. It is also incomprehensible why the Shankaracharya had to be arrested on Deepavali eve while on a visit to another state. Therefore, if later the Shankaracharya is acquitted by court, then this arrest will not only be a reckless infringement of his personal liberty but an unforgivable affront to the Hindu community since he is an important pontiff of a hoary institution where the near divine soul, Sri Chandrashekhara Saraswati, the great Parmacharya once presided. Ms. Jayalalithaa as head of the state government if she fails to get a conviction in court, will then be required by the vast majority of the Indian people to atone [prayaaschitam] for it.

I condemn the DMK President Mr.Karunanidhi for expressing glee in such a serious matter. Would he also support the extradition and arrest of V.Prabhakaran of the LTTE held by the Supreme Court to be guilty[not merely prima facie suspected] to have ordered the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi or incarcerating the DK leader K. Veeramani for his acts of forgery for which a TADA case is in progress in Tiruchi? When he himself was arrested as suspect in a crime, did he not condemn it while screaming "aiyo, aiyo"?

(SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY)


November 2, 2004

PRESS RELEASE
The Janata Party President Dr. Subramanian Swamy left today on a ten day tour of the United States. He been invited by the prestigious Halle Institute of Emory University, Atlanta to deliver an address on November 4th on "Can India Challenge China: Implications for US Interests". While in US, Dr. Swamy will also address meetings of the ex-patriates in Tampa and Orlando in Florida; Chicago,Illinois; Los Angeles and San Francisco, California; Washington D.C.; New York City; and at Boston, organised by the Save India Forum International set up by US-based NRIs who had earlier been active during the Emergency. Later Dr. Swamy will travel to Beijing to address a gathering of Chinese officials and scholars on India's Economic Reform at Tsinghua University at a conference, before returning to India.
(Office Secretary)