Arjun defends Jamia V-C, Govt keeps a distance

UPA DOUBLESPEAK: For the BJP this is usual another example of UPA's dilemma over what to do terror.

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New Delhi: After the Delhi blasts, the Government wanted to send out the impression that it wasn't soft on terror. But then, another problem surfaced with the arrests and the encounter in Jamia Nagar - alienation of the minority.

The apprehension of the Muslim community over the arrests in Jamia Nagar is now posing the very same problem that the Government had forseen and this is a votebank the Congress needs desperately.

The response is HRD Minister Arjun Singh's tactical move to allow Jamia Millia Vice-Chancellor, Mushirul Hasan, a free hand.

On Friday, after a meeting with Mushirul Hasan, Arjun Singh came out in support of the University's decision to provide legal aid to the blast suspects, sparking of a row with the Opposition. The HRD Ministry is backing Mushirul Hasan's move to provide legal counsel to the arrested students.

"This is a good gesture by students and teachers and the entire community there and I endorse it," Arjun Singh said.

Hasan, who courted controversy by naming a road in the campus after the HRD Minister, is going all out to fulfil his legal aid pledge. He had once been forced out of the university for his liberal views, but now his populartiy is on the upswing.

Arjun Singh's support to Hassan isn't just about the Minister's own secular credentials. The party is letting him have his way because he is lending voice to the UPA's apprehension that the fight against terror shouldn't mean an erosion of the traditional Muslim votebank.

For the BJP, this is usual UPA doublespeak, another example of the Government's dilemma over what to do terror.

It's a political tightrope which the UPA is walking. On the one hand, it is worried about antagonising it's minority votebank especially with the arrests over the last few days but on the other hand, it does not want the Opposition's perception to be strengthened that this Government is soft on terror.