'Solving Kashmir problem will take time'

By Our Special Correspondent

COIMBATORE, MAY 8. The Union Home Minister, Mr. L.K. Advani, today admitted that solving the Kashmir problem would take time. ``But we are determined to solve it'', he added addressing a public meeting at Tirupur on the last leg of his election campaign.

Mr.Advani, who arrived at the venue almost one-and-a- half hours behind schedule as his helicopter developed a technical snag before departing from Mayiladuthurai, said he was asked time and again why the Kashmir problem had not yet been solved.

But this was a ``problem of 50 years'' and when the previous Governments administered ``more medicines there were more diseases.'' ``Hence I cannot cure it in three years. It is an inherited problem. But we are determined to solve it.''

He said communal riots were `minimal' during the period 1988-2001 when the BJP was at the helm. ``I am saying this with a sense of pride, happiness and gratification.'' He also said the Muslim community had not progressed during the past five decades because the other political parties who were in power never bothered about their welfare. They were considered just a `votebank'. But the BJP-led NDA did not treat them as a votebank. ``We do not try to appease them. We provide them equality, due protection and strive for providing better education''.

In his 30-minute speech, Mr.Advani dwelt at length on the trials and tribulations of the BJP and its emergence as the premier party at the national level and also the stupendous challenges it had to face including cyclones in Orissa and Gujarat, the earthquake in Gujarat and the war in Kargil. The ``proxy war'' that Pakistan had been waging for the 15 years had also been successfully defeated. India had emerged as a nuclear power despite threats and economic sanctions.

Despite several natural calamities, the Indian economy had become a ``vigorous one and recognised as one of the fastest growing in the world''.

He claimed that the secret of the NDA's progress and success was ``it says what it means and means what it says''.

He observed that people did not like leaders who said one thing and did another. They wanted `dependability' and ``we have had problems with two ladies ( AIADMK leader, Ms. Jayalalitha and the Trinamool Congress leader, Ms.Mamata Banerjee) and their credibility has now been affected''.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : National
Previous : Nine per cent growth rate not possible: Plan panel
Next     : Azad predicts TMC-Cong. merger