New Delhi: Rashtrapati Bhawan has announced that India's highest civilian honour ‘Bharat Ratna' will be conferred on former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
More than a decade ago, Vajpayee was interviewed by India TV Editor-in-chief Rajat Sharma in his flagship show “Aap Ki Adalat”.
Vajpayee, in answer to a question, vehemently denied that he or his party had compromised with ideology for the sake of power.
“Where is the question of compromise? In fact, others have started believing in our ideology. Even Supreme Court has said in its judgment that Hinduism is not a religion. It's a way of life. Therefore, it's wrong to say that we are leaving our ideology,” added Vajpayee.
Vajpayee refuted the allegations that his party was communal and said that they fully believed in the concept of equal respect to all religions.
“BJP is not communal. We believe in Sarva Dharma Sama Bhava. Communalism is all about discriminating on the basis of religion. There are so many BJP governments in various states. Has any one of them discriminated against anybody on the basis of religion? We are a national party and we have equal respect for every religion. One should not forget the fact that vote-bank politics is also communalism,” Vajpayee had said.
He also brushed aside his depictions as a right person in a wrong party and said that there is no difference between him and his party.
“It's totally wrong to say that I'm a right person in a wrong party. How can fruit be right if the tree is wrong,” retorted Vajpayee.
When asked if it was true that he had cried after the demolition of Babri structure in Ayodhya on December 6, Vajpayee answered in negative.
“I don't know from where have you got all these information but it's not true that I had cried after that incident although I did not like what happened on Dec 6,” Vajpayee added.
Vajpayee also denied allegations that RSS remote-controlled BJP.
“There is no remote-control. Anyways, it's an era of de-control. The allegation, in fact, is a grave injustice to BJP. We are an independent organization. RSS is a patriotic organization. Many of us have been associated with RSS. But we take our independent decisions,” said Vajpayee.
Answering a question on India's foreign policy, Vajpayee expressed his reservations over granting one-sided favour to Pakistan.
“There has been a national consensus over foreign policy in this country. But we don't agree with the policy of granting one-sided favour to Pakistan. Pakistan should be first asked to stop cross-border terrorism,” Vajpayee said.
On Kashmir, Vajpayee said that Indian parliament had passed a resolution on Kashmir and he fully abides by that resolution.
“Parliament has passed a resolution saying the entire J&K belongs to India. And when I say the entire J&K, it also includes that part which Pakistan has ceded to China,” added Vajpayee.
On BJP including nuclear tests in its manifesto, Vajpayee said that it was done after due deliberations.
“Yes, we have mentioned Nuclear tests and we have done it after due deliberations. Those who are preventing us from carrying out these tests are piling up more and more nuclear arsenals but are trying to deprive us of this science. This is not acceptable,” argued Vajpayee.
