The Hindu : Minister backs initiative

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 14, 2003

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National

Minister backs initiative

By Our Special Correspondent

LUCKNOW JUNE 13. The Union Minister of State for Home, Chinmayanand, today gave his approval to the negotiations initiated by the Kanchi Sankaracharya, Jayendra Saraswati, to find a solution to the Ram temple dispute at Ayodhya.

The Sankaracharya had held negotiations with Muslim religious leaders and the Government was seriously watching the developments, he said.

Talking to newspersons at the State BJP office here, Mr. Chinmayanand said the very act of the Kanchi Acharya expressing his intention to go for the negotiations indicated his seriousness.

He had revealed his mind in the presence of so many top national leaders, including the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, a former President, a former Prime Minister and a former Chief Justice of India. The Minister earlier went to see Paramhans Ramchandra Das, president of the Ram Janmabhoomi Trust, admitted to the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences here after he had suffered a heart attack.

Route to China

He said the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, during his coming visit to China would persuade the Chinese leaders to open the old trade route connecting Ladakh with Tibet. This would cut short to two days the travel time from Delhi to Mansarovar. Also, the region of Ladakh would greatly benefit from the new trade relations with Tibet.

The Union Minister said the new strategy of border management in the northeastern States had given desirable results and the situation was likely to improve further in the days to come. The Government had given a new look to the allocation of funds for rural and urban development in these States. The Government would see that development funds did not fall in the hands of militants or NGOs that used these for religious conversions.

The Government had decided to allocate 10 per cent of the total national developmental funds to the northeastern States. The causes of insurgency would be studied and SSB would be deployed on the border of Bhutan. He claimed that recently there had been a let-up in insurgency in these States, except in Manipur, Northern Tripura and two districts of Arunachal Pradesh.

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