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Temple trouble for NDA Government : Hand over land or quit, VHP warns Vajpayee

	February 25, 2002

The temple crisis is staring in the face of the BJP, which is already coming to terms with losing power in Uttar Pradesh. With the Vishwa Hindu Parishad threatening to move the carved pillars to the site at Ayodhya, the NDA Government at the Centre is in a dilemma on how to tackle the situation. If the Central Government wanted to remain in power then it must hand over the land that it acquired in Ayodhya to the Ram Janmabhoomi Trust, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad said. VHP leader Ashok Singhal has pointed out that the religious leaders had already announced their plan to launch a satyagraha (protest) if the Government did not take a decision on the issue by March 15. Singhal added ominously : “No government in this country can survive by oppressing the religious leaders. We have seen the fate of Mulayam Singh Yadav. Can anyone now think, like Mulayam Singh, of suppressing Hindu religious leaders?”

There appears to be a schism between the VHP and the rest of the Sangh Parivar (outfits of the Sangh) over the former’s announced plan to start construction of the temple at Ayodhya from March 15. Indicating that the VHP had jumped the gun in making that announcement, RSS spokesman M.G. Vaidya has stated that the Sangh had declared its support only to programmes planned till March 12; no decision had been taken on any future programme.

Vaidya pointed out that the RSS had given its support to three VHP programmes - Jalabhishek, Ramnaamjaap and the Sant Chetavani Yatra - which will all conclude by March 12. The RSS would decide its stand on the March 15 programme at its National Council meeting. A meeting of the Sangh National Executive was slated for March 14, he added. Political observers felt the RSS, even though committed to pushing the Hindu cause, was averse to any rash action at Ayodhya that could precipitate a national crisis and threaten the Vajpayee Government. Just as the BJP would find it hard to use force against the 10 lakh “Rambhakts,” (devotees) whom the VHP had vowed to mobilise for the next phase of its programme, it would not be possible for it to neglect its duty to maintain the status quo at the site in deference to Supreme Court orders.

It was in this context that Vaidya had mooted the idea of the construction of a mosque at a distance from a make-shift temple at the disputed site at Ayodhya. The merits of the move aside, it was the conciliatory tone of the suggestion which was indicative of RSS thinking, the sources pointed out.

BJP president K Jana Krishnamurthy had stated on January 31 that the NDA Government was “bound by the Constitution, the rule of law and its own NDA agenda” as far as the Ayodhya issue was concerned. The law would take its own course, if anyone violated it. The RSS stance coupled with the recent stand of Prime Minister Vajpayee that the dispute would be settled only by the court in the absence of a negotiated settlement underlined the disunity within the Parivar over the crucial VHP programme.

Meanwhile, the VHP is going ahead with its plans regardless and expects 25,000 people in Ayodhya on February 24. A detailed schedule has been drawn up district-wise which will ensure that at least 5,000 people reach Ayodhya every day touching at least 100,000 on the day the construction begins.

The VHP ticked off an RSS suggestion that a mosque be constructed on the Saryu river banks in Ayodhya.

“There is no place to do as it is very small,” VHP president Ashok Singhal commented in a TV channel on the RSS suggestion. “If a masjid has to be constructed, it should be done outside the 84-acre area and at a distance which would not lead to any confrontation”, he said. On having a negotiated settlement, he said, “when we say clearly there was a temple and it is the birth place of Ram, the Muslims refuse to discuss the matter”.



Sonia call for all-party meet

Concerned over the developments taking place in Ayodhya, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has asked Prime Minister Vajpayee to convene an all-party meeting at the earliest to “consolidate the opinions of all sane elements”. In a letter to the Prime Minister, Gandhi said the secular forces of the country were concerned over the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s plans to start constructing a temple at the disputed site. Stating that it would be in the fitness of things if an all-party meeting was convened at the earliest to discuss the issue, Gandhi said: “There seems to be a convergence of opinion across the political spectrum in the country that the Ayodhya issue must be left to the courts.”



Is it only bravado?

There is lot of speculation on whether the VHP is serious about its threats. Much of the aggressive rhetoric being employed by the VHP over the Ayodhya temple issue may be bravado. It is being pitched higher and higher and some in the VHP talk routinely of facing bullets and going to jail - good for them. The facts, however, are slightly more distressing. The idea is to transport some pillars to the site and do a puja. This involves the hiring of cranes and negotiating narrow passages, a very difficult task, logistically. Next, according the supervisor of the workshop at Ayodhya, the pillars cannot simply be planted on the ground, they will require a foundation six and a half feet deep, over an area of 268ft by 140ft, and a plinth 8 feet high. All this cannot be done overnight, short of storming the site, an option some insiders in the VHP are said to be considering if a non-BJP government is in place on the curious reasoning that the Centre may then become more sympathetic to the idea.

Observers feel the reasoning was entirely fallacious. The Prime Minister has made it clear that a repetition of 1992 would not be tolerated. Jana Krishnamurthy says the issue will remain dead for the party till 2004. The RSS is asking Muslims to build a mosque somewhere else to which the answer is - why can’t the Hindus build their temple somewhere else? Besides which, this is not the kind of suggestion one makes after committing an act of vandalism. Vajpayee has said there is intransigence on both sides and the court will have to decide. Apart from the fact it is not a matter for the courts, the Centre will not hand any land over to the VHP in the near future, either because it will be prejudicial to legal proceedings or because it would break up the NDA - especially if there is no BJP Government in Lucknow - or both.

The Law Ministry is, in any case, in no hurry to give an opinion on the issue of handing over 47 acres outside the disputed area to the VHP. Other factors have to be taken into account. If the exit polls are right, the absence of a right-wing Hindu issue hasn’t done much harm to the BJP, indicating that the Hindu constituency is not anywhere as focussed on the issue as it once was. Things work out differently at the local level where the empowerment of other castes is more of a concern than a temple or a mosque in Ayodhya and here the notion of strategic alliances comes into play more forcefully.



BJP has to make up its mind

The BJP, which leads the NDA alliance, should make up its mind what to do about the explosive Ayodhya controversy, political observers feel. The latest is that talks have failed to yield any result. Talks with whom? Muslim organisations, including the baseless Babri Masjid Coordination Committee, have denied any contact with the Prime Minister who claimed to be in contact with it to arrive at a peaceful solution. The militant Vishwa Hindu Parishad has threatened to start the construction of a grand temple on March 15, a few weeks after the final voting in UP.

The Prime Minister has openly admitted that his efforts to resolve the dispute have failed and it is left to the courts to direct all parties to do the judicial thing. Vajpayee is obviously under strong pressure to do the right political thing rather than make the statesman-like admission. Dissociation with the VHP is politically correct and profitable. And this is the basic rule during election time.

All this creates confusion at the national level. The Central Government should not conduct itself in the interests of its leading partner but in the long-term interests of the nation. And playing politics with the contentious Ayodhya issue is not good for national health. The BJP is not all that hopeless in UP; it still has a strong chance to emerge as the second largest party and with Kalyan Singh’s tactics can rig up a majority and come to power. Chief Minister Rajnath Singh is capable of this. For all one knows, keeping the Ayodhya issue aside may help instead of raising it at this moment.