JEDDAH, 2 September — The Indian Union Muslim League is opposed to any compromise on the Babri Mosque issue, P.K. Kunhalikutty, industry and information technology (IT) minister of southern Indian state of Kerala and IUML leader, has said.
“We’ll not compromise on the Babri Mosque issue,” the minister told Arab News on Friday night. He made the statement in the wake of reports that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was holding talks to find a solution to the issue by March next. The matter is awaiting a court verdict.
The minister, who performed Umrah and addressed a community meeting in Makkah on his arrival on Thursday, was the chief guest at the ongoing Saudi Indian Football Forum league and addressed a meeting in Jeddah, on Friday.
“The Hindu revivalism is strong after the demolition of the Babri Mosque on Dec. 6, 1992. My party stands for communal amity and is opposed to extremism, whether Hindu or Muslim,” Kunhalikutty told the meeting, which was organized by Kerala Muslim Cultural Center.
The minister said the UDF government in Kerala, led by Chief Minister A.K. Antony, had completed 100 “satisfactory” days. “However, the economic situation of the state is weak. The state treasury is almost empty. We’ll survive and hope to tap financial institutions for loans,” he added. The poor financial health of the state was compounded by the fact that non-resident Keralites (NRKs) had been investing mainly in real estate. “We want NRKs to invest in industrial projects, especially IT. We’re ready to offer whatever assistance to such investors,” he said.
The state government on its part had been promoting IT and medical tourism in a big way. “We’re planning an IT techno park in Cochin, near the Nudumbassery airport. We will offer investment opportunities to NRKs and other non-resident Indians (NRIs), he stressed.
He also urged NRKs to open colleges and other institutions, especially medical and engineering. “We’re now encouraging the opening of such institutions by the private sector,” he said, adding that the state would submit a report on the recent Gulf NRKs conference held in Cochin to the prime minister soon.
