After the defeat of the opposition-sponsored censure motion on communal violence in the Lok Sabha, India's BJP-led government has, in a change of tack, agreed to support a similar motion in the Rajya Sabha where it does not have majority.

The motion has been admitted in the upper house under a rule, which entails voting at the end of the debate.

The government of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has agreed to support the motion seemingly for two reasons.

First, it expects the motion to take the sting off the opposition offensive against the BJP administration in Gujarat and the central government for their "failure" to contain violence in Gujarat where over 900 people have been killed. Second, it wants to avoid embarrassment of a defeat in the upper house.

Another reason why the government has chosen to accept the opposition motion is its mild wording.

The motion expresses "anguish"

over the violence in Gujarat and asks the federal government to intervene effectively under Article 355 of the Constitution to protect lives and property of the people in the state and ensure proper relief and rehabilitation of violence-hit survivors.

Leader of the Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh said that the government shared the sentiments voiced by the opposition motion.

But if the government idea was to blunt the opposition attack, it did not — ’> _

NEWS ANALYSIS

quite happen.

As the debate on the motion began in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, members of the opposition mounted a sharp attack on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and the federal government for not doing enough to contain the violence in the state and provide adequate relief.

Verbal duel, a brief adjournment and a strong demand for Modi's removal marked the proceedings in Rajya Sabha, which ended incon-

clusively at the stroke of midnight Thursday.

Initiating the debate, senior Congress leader Arjun Singh said government failed to maintain communal harmony in Gujarat and warned if peace and amity were not restored soon India's integrity would be threatened.

Congress member from Gujarat Ahmed Patel emphasised the need for providing "healing touch" to violence-hit people of the state and said government was not doing enough for their relief and rehabilitation.

The strongest defence for the government came from Law Minister Arun Jaitley who cited statistics of arrests to refute criticism that Gujarat administration was not acting against troublemakers. He countered the opposition members' attempts to compare the happenings in Gujarat with the Nazi history.

A defeat for the government in Rajya Sabha in voting on the motion will not oblige Vajpayee government to quit and will give moral victory to the opposition.