The Hindu : Govt. keeps its fingers crossed as VHP plans 'shila daan'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 13, 2002

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Govt. keeps its fingers crossed as VHP plans 'shila daan'
By Anjali Mody

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader, Ashok Singhal, addressing presspersons in Ayodhya on Tuesday. The Ramjanmabhoomi Nyas president, Ramchandra Das Paramhans, looks on.- AFP

AYODHYA, MARCH 12. In what is being seen as an unprecedented climbdown, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad today effectively set aside its much-hyped plans to conduct a ``symbolic shila puja'' at the disputed site in Ayodhya on March 15. The VHP working president, Ashok Singhal, said here today that in keeping with the announcement made by Ramchandra Das Paramhans, chairman of the Ramjanmabhoomi Nyas (RJN) on Monday, there would be no ``shila puja. Instead, there would be a ``shila daan'' (offering of stone). He insisted that there was ``no difference between a `shila puja' and `shila daan' because a lot of things were offered to Lord Ram''.

Mr. Singhal said ``we will take a stone and hand it over to the receiver. The Commissioner of Faizabad Division, A.K. Gupta, is the legal receiver of the acquired land. Mr. Singhal stressed that Paramhans would lead around 2,000 people to the undisputed site on March 15 to offer a shila to the receiver (the Government) against a proper receipt and hold a prayer there... we will not touch the disputed land... it will be peaceful... in fact, we are even cooperating with the Government on this...

He said that if they were stopped from reaching the acquired land, they would court arrest.

The VHP did not want to add to the Prime Minister's troubles, he added. Mr. Vajpayee was already under a lot of pressure from the Opposition, allies in the Government and the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board and the bureaucracy.

Mr. Singhal reserved his ire for the bureaucracy saying it was responsible for the tension in the town and was politically motivated. ``This entire atmosphere is an unwarranted act of the bureaucracy... I don't know what their fears and anxieties are... but it seems the bureaucracy is functioning like the political agents of some parties,'' he said. Although the Union Minister of State for Home, I.D. Swami, had said that the restrictions on travel in and out of Ayodhya and the diversion of trains were to be reversed, ``officials paid no attention to this''.

The Additional Director-General of Police (Law and Order), A.K. Mitra, said that he was not surprised at Mr. Singhal's attack. He said `` we are the whipping boys... everyone blames us... but I would have been sorry if he had not blamed us. The fact is they want to do a puja, and we have to deny them access.''

Mr. Mitra said there was no question of relaxing the security arrangements that have turned Ayodhya into a kar sevak- free zone. There are, according to CRPF jawans on duty at the Ram Sevakpuram encampment, no more than ``between 100 and 150 people mostly organisers present at the site.'' Whatever be the court's verdict tomorrow, police were prepared. ``We prepare for the worst and hope that it will not come to that. There are currently 8,500 security personal in Ayodhya.

Mr. Singhal said the VHP was hopeful of a verdict in its favour. Their lawyers had told them that the petitions challenging their claim to the land had ``little substance... so we are hopeful of the court's approval''. He said that whatever the court's verdict, a meeting of the VHP Sant Mandal, to be held before March 15, would decide the minutiae of the ``shila daan''.

Mr. Singhal also said that the VHP hoped that the Government, following the court verdict, would hand over what it calls the ``undisputed land'' to the RJN by June 2. He insisted that the VHP was of the view that the entire problem in Ayodhya was due to ``vote bank politics. He said, ``we and Muslims can live together but these politicians do not want this.''

In Ayodhya, dissenting voices that have been silent for long have once again begun to be heard. At two separate press conferences today Mahants, Gyan Das (Nirvani Akhara) and Jaganath Das (Nirmohi Akhara), said the VHP was not a party to the dispute but was ``running a business in the garb of fighting for the temple. They mocked the decision to have a ``shila daan'' saying that this was meaningless when the real issue was that of ownership.

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