Senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh has discovered that the American war against terrorism is a form of new imperialism, responsible for "destabilising India and the neighbourhood".

Identifying US arrogance and high handedness as the root causes of terrorism, he said years before the 9/11 attack, India had warned the US about such a situation. "The American war against terrorism is a new form of imperialism, which has destabilised India and neighbourhood," Singh said while addressing a conference on 'Islam and Terrorism' here. The speech made by the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha is markedly different from the official stand taken by the NDA dispensation, of which he was an External Affairs minister.

Soon after the 9/11 attack, the then Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani had pointed out that a single instance of terrorism would make Washington realise the intensity of frequent terrorist attacks faced by India.

Singh said: "Terrorists are born when a government does not listen to its citizens, who are suffering and are deprived of their basic rights. And the government which does not listen to its suffering citizens, has no moral right to rule," he said.

The conference was organized by the Jama Masjid United Forum.

Singh, however, refused to respond to a question regarding his wife filing an FIR against a BJP MLA for depicting top party leaders as "gods and goddesses" in a poster. "My wife is an Indian citizen and can do whatever she feels like. I do not want to comment on that," Singh said.

The poster, which was released on April 15 to mark three years of BJP rule in Rajasthan, depicts senior leaders A B Vajpayee, L K Advani and Rajnath Singh as the trinity - Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara - and Chief Minister Vasundhare Raje as Goddess Annapoorna.

Sheetal Kumar, Jaswant's wife, said the poster prepared by a BJP worker and a local priest not only hurt her religious sentiments, but also that of the Hindu community at large.

Courtesy: www.deccanherald.com, May 27, 2007