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PM to refer Ayodhya issue to Jaitley
By Neena Vyas
The Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee, the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, and the Minister of State in the PMO, Vijay Goel, with the VHP leaders, Ashok Singhal and Paramhans Ramchandra Das, in New Delhi on Sunday.
NEW DELHI, JAN. 27. The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, today decided to refer to the Law Minister, Arun Jaitley, two points related to the Ayodhya dispute for his Ministry's consideration: to see if the Ayodhya court case could be expedited, and to look at ``legal and constitutional aspects'' of handing over the land acquired by the Government in 1993 to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad- controlled Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas.
The decision was in response to the seven-day ``sant chetavani (warning) yatra'' which culminated with a rally at the Ramlila grounds where an ultimatum was served on the Government to hand over the land at Ayodhya or face a situation in which the ``sants'' would forcibly take it over and build a Ram temple. Among those seated on the dais was RSS leader, Madan Das Devi, who is the ``link'' between the BJP and the RSS.
The Government's decision came after a two-hour-long meeting with a VHP-led delegation of ``sants''. It runs counter to the views expressed by the National Democratic Alliance leaders on Saturday and is being seen as a move to buy time and get the Ram temple issue on to the NDA agenda through the backdoor.
The Union Home Minister, L.K.Advani, and the Defence Minister and NDA convenor, George Fernandes, were present at the meeting. The ``sant'' delegation included VHP leaders, V.H. Dalmiya and Ashok Singhal, and Ramchandra Paramhans, Sri Visvesha Theertha of Udupi and Swami Satyamitranand.
Earlier in the morning, the Marg Darshak Mandal meeting of the VHP adopted a resolution demanding that the 67 acres of land, acquired by the Government in 1993, be handed over to the Nyas to enable it to start construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site ``on any auspicious day after Shivratri of this year (which falls on March 12)''.
It appears that the 11-member delegation, which met the Prime Minister, was at first told that the Ayodhya issue could be resolved only in two ways: through a negotiated settlement, or through a judicial verdict which must be accepted by both sides. That was in tune with what had been decided at the informal NDA meeting called by Mr. Vajpayee on Saturday.
However, there was intense pressure from the RSS, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad as well as Mr. Advani. Some leaders of allied parties recalled that yesterday it was Mr. Advani who suggested referring the matter to the Law Minister to see if a way could be found for handing over the acquired land to the VHP- controlled trust. But with strong opposition from the allied leaders, it was decided that the Prime Minister must firmly reiterate that the Ayodhya issue could be resolved through negotiations or a court verdict.
The Government on its part made it known that the Prime Minister had never given any assurance or promise that he would solve the problem by March 12 but had only stated he would try.
At the rally, the ``sants'' emphasised they had not come here to beg or demand, but to ``warn'' the Government that they were bent upon building the temple at Ayodhya. In fact, some of them, especially Dharmendra, spoke rather harshly about Mr. Vajpayee, saying that he had become the Prime Minister on the basis of the Ram temple movement and was now making all kinds of excuses to get out of a commitment. The well-attended rally tried to recreate the mood of the temple agitation of the late eighties - the same saffron flags, the same slogans of ``Mandir Wahin Banayenge'' were raised with clenched fists. And some BJP leaders also attended the rally.
The ``sants'' made it clear that from February 24 onwards the call would be ``Ayodhya chalo'' (let us go to Ayodhya) and thousands of ``devotees'' with their families would start gathering there, with the crowds increasing daily.
Slogans were raised at the rally - ``Pakistan tod do'' (break Pakistan), ``Pakistanion ko kooto'' (beat the Pakistanis) - and abuses were hurled at the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid and the Prime Minister, the latter for ``using'' the temple agitation to get to Race Course Road and for kowtowing before the Americans and the British.
Speaker after speaker said they did not accept the court's jurisdiction over the Ayodhya dispute - ``adalat adalat mat bako (stop saying court verdict, court verdict)'' - and they would not wait for any permission from the Government either. Only Mr. Singhal, who spoke at the very end, pleaded that at least once again in February the ``sants'' should try and persuade the Government to hand over to the Nyas the acquired land at Ayodhya.
The plan seems to be - get the land, build on it, encircle the site on which the Babri Masjid stood, and make any future court verdict infructuous.
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