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Sunil Shastri wants fresh probe
into his father's death

Recently appointed Bharatiya Janata Party national general secretary Sunil Shastri said on Tuesday that he would seek a fresh probe into the death of his father and India's second prime minister, the late Lal Bahadur Shastri.

Lal Bahadur Shastri had died in Tashkent in January 1966, shortly after signing a ceasefire agreement with Pakistan President Ayub Khan. The agreement ended the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war, in which the latter suffered major reverses.

Sunil Shastri said at a press conference, "Suspicion was aroused about the circumstances leading to my father's death by a KGB report, of which some extracts were made public some time back."

He added, "After all, there has been talk about a high level probe into the mystery that shrouds Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's disappearance too; so I would certainly appeal to the government to simultaneously order a fresh inquiry into my father's death."

He admitted that such a demand had been raised by his family during the Congress regime but to no avail.

Sunil Shastri, who spent many years in the Congress and who was also a minister in successive Congress governments in Uttar Pradesh, switched to the BJP a few years back.

Sunil Shastri also said that the Bharatiya Janata Party was totally independent of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

On his first visit to Lucknow, after assuming his new post, he said, "The BJP is a political party, while the RSS and VHP were large non-political organisations."

He was replying to a query on repeated assertions by RSS and VHP leaders about going ahead with the construction of the Ram temple at the site of the razed Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.

"The prime minister and our party leadership have repeatedly clarified that as the matter is pending before the country's apex court, no construction work can be started by anyone," he said. When a scribe asked what the BJP leadership would do in case the RSS and VHP defied court proceedings and started construction work, as they did with the demolition in 1992, he said, "Well, that's a very hypothetical question that does not deserve a reply."

Referring to repeated proclamations by VHP leaders about declaring the date of construction of the temple, he said, "Well, anyone is free to make any statement, but surely one cannot possibly bring together an act in violation of the law of the land."

He denied that party chief Bangaru Laxman's declaration about winning over Muslims amounted to appeasement of minorities. "For that matter, ours is the first government to have started a special scheme for Urdu computer training," he said, adding, "would you call that appeasement of anyone?"

He said, "The government's National Council for Urdu Promotion has set up 75 such centres in the country, while more will come up."

The BJP will launch a nationwide week-long campaign from October 13 to create awareness about the achievements of the National Democratic Alliance government, which completes a year that day, Sunil Shastri said.

"Senior party leaders will address a major public meeting at each state capital during that period; the Lucknow rally will be addressed by Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj on the last day of the campaign, October 20," he added.

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