HVK Archives: Advani still justifies demolition
Advani still justifies demolition - The Economic Times
Political Bureau
()
18 September 1997
Title: Advani still justifies demolition
Author: Political Bureau
Publication: The Economic Times
Date: September 18, 1997
Unfazed by the court's nood to chargesheet its top brass in the Ayodhya
case, the BJP has decided to be defiant over the demolition of the Babri
Masjid.
Indicating that the party would brazen it out in the coming days, BJP
president Mr L K Advani has justified the demolition of the disputed
structure in a signed editorial in the party organ, BJP Today. Although he
has used the same old arguments to Ram in his party's point, the tone of
the article clearly suggests that the saffron parivar would make every
attempt to keep the issue alive.
Mr Advani, who has described the disputed structure as an 'ocular
demonstration against the Hindus' said the demolition is not a matter of
regret. "What is regretted is the manner in which it happened," Mr Advani
said. BJP president, who quoted from a speech made by historian Arnold
Toynbee during his visit to the country in the fifties, said the
intelligetia was unanimous in describing the existence of the Babri Masjid
as an insult on Hindus.
"It is worth recalling that Toynbee had expressed surprise that the
government had allowed several intentionally offensive monuments raised by
Mughul and British rulers to remain even after Independence. Toynbee,
while delivering the Azad memorial lecture had observed: "In the course of
the Russian occupation of Warsaw had built an Eastern Orthodox Christian
Cathedral in the Capital of the once independent Roman Catholic country,
Poland. The Russians had done this to give the Poles a continuous ocular
demonstration that the Russian were now their masters. I do not greatly
blame the Polish government for having pulled down the Russian Church. The
purpose for which the Russians had built it had been not religious but
political and the purpose had also been intentionally offensive."
Mr Advani, who saw a similar motive behind constructing the Babri Mosque at
Ayodhya said Babar's purpose, too, was political and not religious. Terming
the now-demolished structure as an intentionally offensive monument, Mr
Advani said that it had no claimants as even the Muslims of Ayodhya had
abandoned it in 1936. "The ocular provocation is no longer there is not a
matter of regret," he said and added that "had Toynbee been alive today, he
too, like V S Naipaul and Nirad Chaudhari, would have justified the
demolition of the structure. A belligerent Mr Advani claimed that the
Ayodhya issue - which was in the periphery of public debate has been
catapulted to the centre-stage by the CBI's action.
The signed editorial has noted that the policies of the then Congress
regime headed by Mr P V Narasimha Rao was responsible for the actual course
of events. "Congressmen have been advised by their leaders to maintain a
low-profile on the issue," he maintained.
The tough talk by Mr Advani should put to rest the speculation in the media
that the BJP, which is anxious to win over allies may soften its stand on
Hindutva issues. If Mr Advani's signed piece is any indication, Hindutva
is sure to remain the party's ideological mascot.
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