MADRAS, 14 September 2003 — Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee yesterday said that despite occasional “aberrations” India would remain a secular nation. “I disagree with those who say that Indian democracy is in danger. There is also no need to be skeptical about Indian secularism,” Vajpayee said in southern Madras city at a function to mark the 125th anniversary of The Hindu, a national English language daily.

“In spite of unfortunate aberrations, whose recurrence must be prevented, India will always remain an open, inclusive and tolerant nation, with the freedom of faith guaranteed to all not only by the statute book but also by the living traditions of this ancient civilization.”

The prime minister said it was within “this matrix of resurgent nationalism and a vibrant democracy” that India was marching toward its vision of turning into a developed nation in the next two decades.

Vajpayee’s Hindu nationalist BJP party has often come under stern criticism from the opposition and the media for promoting radical Hinduism in the country.

No India-US-Israel Axis: US Official

Senior US official Christina Rocca has denied the existence of any India-US-Israel axis as actively promoted by New Delhi and Jerusalem, a report said yesterday.

“There is no axis as such,” Rocca told Outlook magazine in an interview.

“The US has good relations with India, and has good relations with Israel. We are always happy when friends make friends with each other. But there is no axis.”

Rocca was in New Delhi this week for an official visit.

The idea of an India-Israel-US axis to fight “terrorism” was first mooted by India’s national security adviser Brajesh Mishra on a visit to the United States in May.

“Such an alliance would have the political will and moral authority to take bold decisions in extreme cases of terrorist provocation,” Mishra said in an address to the American Jewish Community in Washington. On Sept. 10, during an official visit by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister Yosef Lapid said an “unwritten, abstract” axis had been created between the three countries.

“There is mutual interest of the three countries in making the world a more secure place for all of us. There is American support for development of this unwritten axis,” Lapid told reporters on the sidelines of Sharon’s visit.

Lapid, however, said there was “no formal triangular agreement” on such an axis among the US, India and Israel but “in the abstract sense, we are creating such an axis”.