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The Hindu, Oct 16, 2003 Editorial Making trouble but going nowhere THE SHOCK FORCES OF THE Sangh Parivar, spearheaded by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, have nowhere to go in Ayodhya - having demolished the Babri Masjid more than a decade ago but unable to take forward the project of building a Ram temple on the `disputed' site where the 16th century mosque used to stand. This is the essential difference between the militant Ramjanmabhoomi campaigns of the early 1990s and today. The temple building project has met with both legal and political obstacles. The legal obstacle is the `title' suit and related issues being heard by the Allahabad High Court. In March 2003, the Supreme Court, in a splendid demonstration of judicial impartiality and commitment to the secular values enshrined in the Constitution, prohibited the Central Government from handing the 67.703 acres of land claimed to be "undisputed" to a trust or organisation for the purpose of constructing a Ram temple. It ordered that the "status quo" should be maintained until the title suits were adjudicated by the Allahabad High Court. The political obstacle is the breadth and depth of opposition from political parties to handing over the disputed site for the building of a temple. Given the apex court's order and the repeatedly expressed positions of most of the parties that make up the National Democratic Alliance, the Vajpayee Government is in no position to aid the Ramjanmabhoomi campaign in any material way. Over the past several days, the Mulayam Singh-led Government of Uttar Pradesh has made a firm, quiet and well-coordinated effort to thwart the VHP's threat of holding an unlawful meeting, the `Sankalp Sammelan', in Ayodhya on October 17. The mass arrest of Sangh Parivar (and Shiv Sena) activists, the requisitioning of more than 100 companies of Central paramilitary forces with the cooperation of the Vajpayee Government, the sealing of routes to the twin towns of Faizabad and Ayodhya by diverting trains and stopping bus services - a variety of law enforcement measures has been employed to stop potential violence and trouble at the disputed site. In enforcing such measures, the U.P. Chief Minister, Mulayam Singh Yadav, is armed with a potent weapon: a court order. Last week's direction by the special bench of the Allahabad High Court is unambiguous: the State Government must not allow the VHP to conduct a religious programme at, or in the vicinity of, the disputed site where the Babri Masjid once stood. It is notable that in this round the U.P. Chief Minister has gone out of his way to signal that he is not in favour of any confrontation. The VHP has repeatedly declared that courts have no competence to adjudicate `matters of faith'. It is no longer a novelty for top VHP leaders to shower the Prime Minister with some of their choicest abuse and insults. They are on record accusing Atal Bihari Vajpayee of "weakening the country", of not having "any sentiments" for Hindus, of being a deal-maker (for the sake of power), a "pseudo-Hindu", an "anti-Hindu", and, worst of all, a "secularist". Pravin Togadia, international general secretary of the VHP, has even warned publicly that the country "will be plunged into communal riots" if Ram bhakts are stopped from going to Ayodhya for a `darshan'. Not surprisingly, the Vajpayee Government has come under pressure from the Sangh Parivar, and especially its `brain', the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, to come to the aid of the VHP. The top RSS leadership has asked the Government not to stop or divert trains and not to do anything to prevent VHP volunteers from reaching Ayodhya for their "sankalp" programme. There has been some back-pedalling by the Prime Minister, who has suddenly advised that the VHP should be trusted to act peacefully. With five Assembly polls a little more than a month away and a general election due next year, the BJP has a desperate political need to keep the Parivar together to counter the party's adversaries. In Uttar Pradesh, the party's political stock has declined to a level that alarms senior leaders. VHP leaders make no secret of their assessment that the BJP, as presently led, is headed for defeat in the next general election - and for a near-collapse in U.P. - for the simple reason that it has gone `soft' and `effete' on Hindutva. The "sankalp" programme might have put some pressure on the polity, but its main achievement thus far has been to spotlight the contradictions and dilemmas faced by the NDA coalition Government and its Prime Minister. www.hinduonnet.com |
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| << October15, 2003 - [India Thinkers Net] Ban Yatra Politics, |
October17, 2003 - [India Thinkers Net] BJP may stage-manage another Godhra >> |
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