Thursday, July 7 2005 12:59 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Rejecting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's charge that Sangh Parivar outfits were indulging in "cheap politics" over the Ayodhya attack, BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) President L K Advani today (July 7, 2005) said they were only providing an outlet for the people to express their outrage over the attack.

"Politics cannot be done on this matter. People have been given an outlet to express their anger over the attack. This is not politics," Advani told reporters in Delhi after paying a visit to the two CRPF jawans injured in the militant attack on the makeshift Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

The Prime Minister had reacted to the protests by the saffron outfits yesterday, calling it "cheap politics." Blaming the present political dispensation for the attack in Ayodhya, he said, "Even when we were in government we kept getting information about such an attack being planned. But the militants could never enter the temple complex, which has now happened."

Brave Jawans protected the Temple

The BJP chief, meanwhile, lauded the bravery shown by the CRPF jawans in thwarting the militant attack. "I came here to visit the two CRPF jawans who were badly injured while protecting the temple in Ayodhya...We should laud the bravery they showed in fighting the terrorists who were determined (to storm the temple)," Advani said.

The two CRPF personnel, badly injured in the terror attack, were shifted from St George's Hospital, Lucknow, to All India Institute of Medical Sciences here yesterday.

Advani also informed that eminent cardiologist Dr P Venugopal, who heads the Cardio thoracic Sciences Centre at AIIMS, himself operated upon one of the jawans late in the night to save him.

"Dr Venugopal had a fall recently and suffered a head injury recently. But despite that he operated upon the jawan himself," he said.

Advani said that by God's grace the jawans were doing well. He, however, refused to divulge the names of the jawans as their family members have not yet been informed about their injury.