The Hindu : Recognition in principle for our demand: VHP

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 16, 2002

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National

Recognition in principle for our demand: VHP
By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 15. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad today sought to raise yet another political controversy by claiming that the Centre had ``acknowledged in principle'' its demand for construction of a Ram temple on the ``disputed land'' in Ayodhya by sending the Prime Minister's special emissary, Shatrughan Singh, of the PMO's Ayodhya cell, to accept `shila daan' by the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas president, Ramchandra Paramhans.

According to some BJP leaders, the Government may make yet another move on Ayodhya. While it was trying to get some sort of negotiations going between the VHP and the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board through the Kanchi Sankaracharya, Jayendra Saraswati, it is now planning to come up with two ``maps'', one indicating how much of the 67 acres would be given to Muslims if the final judicial verdict is in their favour, and the other showing the requirement of land for a temple if the verdict favoured the pro-mandir Hindus. The ``maps'' would also show the land expected to be surplus after keeping enough for a mosque or temple.

When the matter comes up, the Government could argue before the full bench of the Supreme Court that the ``surplus' land which had been acquired from the VHP and the Nyas may be given back to it before the final adjudication in the main title suit of the Ayodhya case.

There are many BJP members who are insisting that the Government ``do something'' to please the VHP, which, after all, does help the BJP when it is election time. The VHP's claim today that the Centre had acknowledged its demand for a temple on the ``disputed site'' was no different from the Opposition charge, and tomorrow when the Lok Sabha is expected to debate the entire issue, the Government will be hard put to explain what a Government functionary was doing with a temple `shila' in Ayodhya.

Of course, the VHP and the BJP today were trying to snatch victory out of defeat. After having witnessed the sorry spectacle of stands and demands changing by the hour, of the Supreme Court being criticised by its friends in the Sangh Parivar, of listening to voices from the RSS distancing themselves from the BJP, the BJP spokesperson, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, took all the credit on behalf of the Vajpayee Government for the non-event of `shila daan' in Ayodhya having passed off peacefully.

While the VHP general secretary, Praveen Togadia, claimed that the Centre had acknowledged its demand for a temple on the site of the disputed land (where the Babri Masjid stood before 1992) by sending a representative to accept the `shila daan', Mr. Malhotra said the Government had shown it was ``in total control.'' The ``prophets of doom'' who had predicted violence and rioting in Ayodhya and elsewhere had been proven wrong. In making all these claims, the BJP ignored the fact that its hands were tied by the court's directive and that the ``security bandobust'' in Ayodhya was the result of the combined pressure of the opposition and its own allies.

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