Author: Shyam Khosla
Publication: Organiser
Date: December 17, 2000
THE Fascist elements
in the Indian polity comprising Communists and the secularist brigade are
aghast at the Prime Minister's assertion that the Ayodhya movement was
a manifestation of the national desire to build a temple at the birthplace
of Sri Ram. Equally unnerving for the Opposition is his observation
that that national aspiration has not yet been fulfilled and that how the
temple would be built is also very important. These are no off the
cuff observations by the head of Government. His statement is unequivocal
and shows that he is perfectly in tune with the national aspirations.
It is absurd to suggest that the Prime Minister justified the demolition
of the disputed structure. Nothing can be farther from truth.
He had expressed his sense of outrage at the incident in the wake of the
demolition. In fact, every one in the RSS fraternity was saddened
by the turn of events. Top leaders of the RSS and the BJP had gone
to Ayodhya to express their solidarity with the movement. They were
in no way responsible for the demolition. If certain Hindu organisations
celebrated the occasion it was because they perceived it as the removal
of a symbol of slavery from our sacred land.
The masses were fed up
with the minorityism of non-BJP parties and certain self-styled leaders
of the Muslim community that had prevented a negotiated settlement of the
dispute. While the Muslims in general were willing to sort out the
issue with their Hindu brethren and respected the strong Hindu sentiment
over the issue, the Congress Government put hurdles in the way of a peaceful
solution. Judicial delays too tested people's patience. Their
patience exhausted, the angry karsevaks refused to listen to sane advice
of the Hindu leaders once certain unknown elements launched the offensive
against the structure. Uncalled for and vicious propaganda unleashed
by the pseudo-secularists, including a seciton of the media, against the
Sangh and its ideological fraternity created a chain reaction and led to
hardening of the Hindu organisations' stand. There is nothing new
in Vajpayee's statement excepting that it is frank and is an expression
of his outrage at the persistent stalling of Parliament by the Opposition
parties that are indulging in competitive politics to gain Muslim votes.
It is no secret that Vajpayee is committed to the Palampur reoslution of
the BJP national executive urging the Government to hand over to Hindus
Ramjanambhoomi for the reconstruction of a grand temple as was done in
the case of the Somnath temple. He never distanced himself from the
Ayodhya movement that is the biggest national movement after the struggle
for Independence. Has the Opposition forgotten that A.B. Vajpayee
was put under arrest at Lucknow airport on his way to Ayodhya to perform
karseva?
Uncalled for demand
It is not for the first
time that the Prime Minister has defended Advani and others falsely involved
in the demolition case. Last year too, he dismissed with the contempt
it deserved the demand for the resignaiton of three ministers. His
consistent stand has been that Dr Murli Manohar Joshi Advani and other
BJP and RSS leaders had gone to Ayodhya to join in the protest against
the delay in handing over the disputed land to Hindus for the reconstruction
of a grand temple. As Vajpayee so succinctly put it : "They went
to Ayodhya not to demolish but to protect the disputed structure." It is
a matter of record that Advani, senior RSS leader H.V. Seshadri and
VHP veteran Ashok Singhal repeateldy pleaded with the angry crowd not to
go near the structure and not to damage it.
The RSS made a determined
bid to prevent angry karsevaks from going towards the tombs but the anger
was so great and the crowd so enraged that no one could stop them.
The masses were fed up with the delay in court cases and the pseudo-secularists'
blind eye to strong Hindu sentiments on the issue. Although the masses
celebrated the demolition of that symbol of our slavery, BJP leaders felt
sad at the turn of events. Advani wrote a front-page signed article
in The Indian Express in which he described December 6 as the saddest day
of his life. As usual the Communists and the Congress are not concerned
with facts. Their aim is to malign the RSS to weaken the BJP and
to sow seeds of discord in the ruling alliance. Vajpayee's strong
defence of his Cabinet colleagues and expression of his solidarity with
the national sentiment on the Ayodhya issue have shocked them more than
the prospects of a Ram temple coming up at Ayodhya. One of the anti-Hindu
newspapers "lamented" that the disruption of pariamentary proceeding on
the Babri issue had united the BJP more than ever.
Evil force
The party that has been
ruling West Bengal for three decades by rigging elections and resorting
to massive bogus voting has lost its nerve as it sees in the BJP-Trina
Mool Congress alliance a serious threat to its hegemony in the communist
stronghold. That is why they keep on harping on perceived differences
between the BJP and its "secular" allies. They raised the Babri issue
for creating tensions within the NDA and to woo fundamentalist Muslims.
They have the cheek to call themselves secular and democratic! Jyoti Basu,
the aging Communist stalwart, seems to have lost his mental balance as
he keeps calling his opponents "barbaric" and the patriotic RSS an "evil
force". One does not expect a person who has ruled a State for three
decades to resort to such street-level language. It is a sad commentary
on his Communist upbringing. The Communists are trained to use abusive
language against their adversaries.
Did they not describe
Subhas Babu, one of the top patriots the land has produced, a running dog
of imperialism? How about the CPM, Comrade? Is killing innocent citizens
and maiming them just because they dared to vote against the CPM a civil
and demoratic act? Is not the CPM guilty of political murders not only
of its political opponents but also members belonging to its coalition
partners? What right the Comrade has to talk about democracy and civilized
behaviour? CPM is guilty of killing several hundred RSS activists in Kerala.
It is misusing the powers it enjoys as a ruling party to kill and harass
its political opponents. It has no right to call others an evil force.
If there is any evil force on this land, it is the one represented by Jyoti
Basu. Masses are electrified Disrupting parliamentary proceedings
on December 6-the day the disputed structure was demolished by an agnry
crowd of karsevaks-has become an annual ritual for the Congress and other
Opposition parties. Although the BJP had put the issue on the back
burner by not including it in the national agenda for governance, it is
the Opposition that has rekindled national interest in this emotive issue
by demanding the sack of three ministers-L.K. Advani, M.M.
Joshi and Sushri Uma Bharati-for their alleged involvement in the collapse
of the disputed structure eight years ago. There is absolutely no
merit in the demand.
The ministers are victims
of political vendetta. No one in his senses can blame them for conspiring
or being a party to any illegal action. Advani had set a glorious
example by vowing not to enter Parliament till his name was cleared of
the charges in the infamous hawala case. No one need teach him political
morality. The Congress that took the lead in disrupting proceedings
of both the Houses days before December 6 seems to have realised that its
tactics have boomeranged. The SP has put the Congress in its place
by reminding it that it was the Congress that was in power at the Centre
that failed to provide protection to the disputed structure. The
Congress strategy has failed. It has only rekindled public interest
in the Ayodhya movement and there is overhwelming public sentiment that
Parliament legislate to hand over the disputed land to the Hindus so that
there is no further delay in the reconstruction of the temple at Ayodhya.
There is merit in the VHP demand that the land acquired by the Government
be handed over to the Nyas so that the reconstruction of what has been
aptly described as a temple of national awakening is taken up immediately.
The nation is grateful
to the Opposition for creating a situation in which the Prime Minister
came out strongly on the issue and reiterating the national commitment
to rebuild the temple at Ramjanambhoomi even while remaining committed
to the NDA agenda. His forceful assertion has electrified the people
and removed doubts from the minds of those who were unhappy over BJP making
compromises on vital issues to carry its allies along. Atalji's statement
on Ayodhya as also the now famous "I shall always be a swayamsevak" statement
made during his US visit confirm the perception that his heart is in the
right place. One only hopes that he does not allow his advisers,
some of whom are out of touch with ground realities and are unfamiliar
with the BJP ethos, to meddle in issues that concern his ideological commitments.
No one should be allowed to do stupid things to wipe out the goodwill generated
by the Prime Minister's well-timed and apt declarations.
