HVK Archives: Sangh parivar gears up to foil Vaghela's plan
Sangh parivar gears up to foil Vaghela's plan - The Pioneer
R K Mishra
()
9 March 1997
Title : Sangh parivar gears up to foil Vaghela's plan
Author : R K Mishra
Publication : The Pioneer
Date : March 9, 1997
Teaming up with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Sangh Parivar has
begun marshalling its forces in a determined bid to take on the
rebel-turned ruler Shankersinh Vaghela, who his making his maiden
bid for the Assembly from Radhanpur constituency in north Gujarat
on April 5.
The RSS strongman, Narendra Modi, is returning to Gujarat to
spearhead the Sangh Parivar's challenge even as the VHP is using
the arrest of its general secretary Pravin Togadia to whip up a
public agitation aimed to peak around the D-day.
Speculation is rife - and hard-liners are fanning the idea - that
Mr Togadia himself be pitched in the fray against Mr Vaghela after
crowning him with a martyr's halo. The VHP has denied it, but
without results.
With the announcement of the by-election schedule, the model code
of conduct has already come into force from March 6 in the
district. The election notification will be issued on March 12.
The last date for riling nominations will be March 19, with
scrutiny on the next day and last date for withdrawal on March 22.
The sparing in the ring has, in the meantime, graduated from
tactical feints to physical jabs. The VHP activists turned physical
at the Ahmedabad residence of Industry Minister Dilipbhai Parikh
and at a tourism department function in Kutch where Finance
Minister Babu Meghji Shah was the target.
In Rajkot, where the Sangh Parivar targeted RJP leader and RSS
veteran Chimanbhai Shukla for a dharna, the latter hit back with a
retaliatory sit-in outside the house of RSS leader Pravinbhai
Maniar leading to the arrest of 900 persons at one venue and 850 at
the other. Stone-pelting VHP mobs have been lathicharged in
Ahmedabad at least twice.
Chief Minister Vaghela has gone on record in the Assembly, quoting
intelligence sources, that a move is afoot to trigger off communal
riots and kill ministers.
That the BJP imparts the highest possible degree of importance to
the worsting of Mr Vaghela became clear when BJP president L K
Advani to Ahmedabad on February 22 even before the by-polls were
announced, to address a State-level meeting of elected
representatives.
The meeting attended by over 3,500 elected representatives from the
village level to Parliament had a one-point agenda: Trounce
Vaghela.
In what is seen by political observers as a deliberate and planned
move to force the Hindutva configuration to unveil its armour, the
Chief Minister chose the day of Mr Advani's arrival in Ahmedabad to
arrest Mr Togadia.
The VHP predictably hit back with a Gujarat bandh which elicited
partial response. Except for minor incidents and the burning of
three buses, the bandh passed off peacefully. Mr Vaghela, who had
opted for a tough posture and requisitioned RAF units, feels
confident of taking on them successfully "If this is the peak of
mobilisation, the best is already behind them," he says.
Though the advantage of the draw went to the Chief Minister, when
he won over the BJP's key man in Radhanpur, Memabhai Chaudhary, to
his party within 24 hours of the Independent Lavingji Solanki
vacating the seat for him, the BJP has been fast on the uptake.
Mr Chaudhary who lost to Mr Solanki by only 307 votes in the last
Assembly poll has been rewarded with the chairmanship of the
Gujarat Dairy Development Corporation while the latter has been
made the chairman of the Gujarat Tractor Corporation.
Incidentally, the tractor corporation is marked for privatisation
and the dairy outfit for the scarp dump.
For the moment, the battle against Mr is being spearheaded by the
VHP using the issue of the Mr Togadia arrest as a pretext for
mobilisation. Mr Togadia, for his part, has chosen to stay put in
prison. The VHP has demanded that the Government release him
forthwith. "Like any other citizen he can seek bail or languish in
jail," avers Mr Vaghela.
The VHP gameplan is to lay siege to the Government terming it as
anti-Hindu and work towards a publicity build-up to peak around
voting time.
"The arrest of Mr Togadia has been done by the anti-Hindu Vaghela
Government at the behest of anti-Hindu forces," says a VHP
spokesperson.
The parishad has planned a 'Virat Hindu Kooch' to Gandhinagar on
March 18 in co-ordination with the Bajrang Dal and the Durga
Vahini, if Mr Togadia is not released unconditionally by then.
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