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“He (Mr Vajpayee) is a politician but we will go ahead with the programme (of temple construction),” said VHP senior vice-president Acharya Giriraj Kishore.
Mr Kishore on Tuesday gave a clear hint while speaking to The Asian Age that the Prime Minister’s stand will not affect the Ayodhya movement.
“He (Mr Vajpayee) is speaking against the issue... because he is a politician. But we (the VHP) will go ahead with our programme and the course of action will be decided by the dharmacharyas meeting at Prayag on the occasion of the Kumbh Mela this month,” he said.
Even RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan has been quoted as saying that he is for the construction of a grand temple at that site.
Opposition leaders feel Mr Vajpayee is repositioning himself on this issue only because he senses that this will not help him politically nor enthuse the people. “Anyway, this will lead to a confrontation between the BJP and Sangh Parivar in the coming days,” they said.
Mr Vajpayee, in his article which is written to remove misconceptions on this issue, has said: “I wish to make it absolutely clear that the law will take its course should any organisation attempt to disturb the status quo. The government will not remain a silent spectator and adopt delaying tactics, as unfortunately happened eight years ago.”
But Congress spokesperson Prithviraj Chavan does not believe it. If the government is so keen on this issue it would have expedited cases on Ayodhya to punish the guilty, he said, adding that the Prime Minister is not even prepared to drop Mr L.K. Advani, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi and Ms Uma Bharati from his Cabinet after that have been chargesheeted in connection with the case.
Another Congress spokesman, Mr Anil Shastri, told reporters: “We are not at all surprised at the statement of the Prime Minister. He is in the habit of changing positions off and on on various crucial issues.”
According to him, the change of position could have been due to some introspection on his part, or because of inherent contradictions between his party and the Sangh Parivar, or to counter pressure from the allies.
He expressed the hope that Mr Vajpayee would stick to the position that if any organisation attempts to disturb the status quo in the Ayodhya dispute it would face the consequences of the law.
The CPI(M) politburo on Tuesday said the Prime Minister cannot escape the responsibility of having encouraged the RSS-VHP combine to go ahead with its conspiracy to build the temple at the disputed site.
Describing as “mischief” the equating of problems in Jammu and Kashmir with Ayodhya, the CPI(M) said the Prime Minister has conveniently said they both are legacies of history.
“The difference is that the Ayodhya
dispute was deliberately raised and stoked by the RSS combine for assaulting
secular principles. It is also utterly wrong to bracket the holy places
of all religions, such as the Golden Temple and Ajmer Sharif Dargah, with
the demand for the Ram temple by demolishing the Babri Masjid,” it said.
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