NEW DELHI, 18 February 2003 — Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam yesterday urged Hindus and Muslims to resolve an explosive plan to build a temple on the site of a razed mosque through dialogue.
"While the judiciary should expedite its work and give an early verdict, it is also nec-essary for political parties, religious leaders and eminent social personalities to promote an atmosphere of mutual understanding, goodwill and accommodation," Kalam told Parliament.
Hindus and Muslims both claim the destroyed mosque site in the northern city of Ayodhya as their own. The Babri Mosque was destroyed in 1992 by Hindu fanatics.
The incident sparked violence across India that claimed 2,000 lives and was considered a factor in sectarian clashes in Gujarat state a year ago that killed another 2,000 people, mostly Muslims.
The dispute is likely to dominate the budget session of Parliament as it comes weeks after the federal government urged the Supreme Court to lift a ban on worship at the site, imposed last March.
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s Hindu fundamentalist BJP party has close links with the hard-line Vishwa Hindu Parishad or VHP which is spearheading the campaign to build the temple.
The VHP is also planning a "dharam sansad", or religious parliament, of top Hindu leaders later this month in New Delhi.
President Kalam also said that India would take "all necessary steps" to stop illegal migration from Bangladesh as the neighboring country was used by Pakistani intelligence agents.
"The problem of illegal migration from Bangladesh has assumed serious propor-tions and affects many states. The ISI is also active in Bangladesh," he said, referring to the Inter-Services Intelligence agency of Pakistan.
"This makes the issue of infiltration (from Bangladesh) even more ominous. The government is determined to take all necessary steps to check this problem," said the Indian head of state, whose role is largely ceremonial.
Historically friendly relations between India and Bangladesh have plummeted since last year when New Delhi warned of a danger of religious extremists in its smaller neighbor.
The Indian home ministry -- headed by the hawkish deputy prime minister, Lal Krishna Advani -- last month announced a drive to deport millions of Bangladeshis it said were illegally in India.
Bangladesh has strongly denied hosting any extremists and contends that none of its nationals is in India illegally. Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Morshed Khan visited India last week in a bid to soothe over relations after troops from the two countries height-ened the alert over the deportation drive.
In his speech in Parliament, Kalam stressed the need for cuts in government expenditure and revamping the tax system for higher economic growth.
"The imperative of fiscal consolidation requires that public finances are managed better," he said. "This can take place only through greater collection of revenue and controlling unproductive expenditure. Increase in revenue will need a restructur-ing of the tax system with a focus toward stable, transparent and efficient tax admin-istration."
Kalam said such tough economic mea-sures were needed for the government to achieve the target of eight percent GDP growth over the next five years set by the country’s top economic think tank, the Planning Commission.
He added the target was achievable with the right choice of economic reforms.
India’s economy grew by 6.0 percent and 5.8 percent successively in the first and second quarters of the current fiscal year, which ends March 31.
