Bhubaneswar, October 13: The BJP today asked Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to clarify his government’s stand on a letter to him by a group of US senators on last year’s violence in Kandhamal.
“We demand that the chief minister make the government stand clear on this matter while keeping the prestige of the people of Orissa,” state BJP spokesman Nayan Mohanty told reporters here.
He said 21 US senators led by Republican Trent Frank in a letter to the chief minister reportedly said “such attacks on the fundamental freedom of religion threaten not only India’s reputation for religious diversity, but also the very stability of India’s secular democracy.”
While BJP had sharply reacted over the matter saying that US lawmakers had no business to interfere in the internal matter of India, the state government has remained silent.
“We urge upon both the state government and the central government to restrain foreign countries and their agencies to refrain from interfering in the internal matters of our country,” the BJP spokesman said.
The Orissa Minority Forum also criticised the US senators. “India is absolutely secular. What has happened in Kandhamal should not be a parameter to judge the country’s secular credentials,” said forum leader Swarupananda Patra.
—Agencies