The Hindu : Sparks fly over Hindutva issue

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 22, 2002

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Sparks fly over Hindutva issue

By Javed M. Ansari

NEW DELHI MARCH 21.The simmering tension between the NDA constituents and a section of the BJP over the Hindutva issue burst into the open in the Lok Sabha today and the House was adjourned for over an hour to prevent a physical clash between the two sides.

The situation turned ugly during zero hour as a two MPs belonging to the JD(U) and the INLD were heckled and berated by Vinay Katiyar and Adityanath while making their making their submissions. Though the timely action by the Deputy Speaker, P.M. Sayeed, in adjourning the House for over an hour put an end to the fight, the battle continued to rage even after the House was adjourned, and, later outside it.

Soon after Mr. Sayeed adjourned the House, Mr. Katiyar and Mr. Adityanath, supported by Shanker Prasad Agarwal of the BJP, moved aggressively towards Devendra Prasad Yadav of the JD(U) and Sushil Indora of the INLD for some remarks they had made against the "saffron brigade''. A shouting match and an eye-ball-to-eye ball confrontation took place. But the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Pramod Mahajan, and Digvijay Singh moved swiftly to separate the two sides.

Mr. Yadav, in his submission, referred to the "atmosphere of tension" in the country because of the "irresponsible behaviour of certain outfits of the Sangh Parivar''. These organisations were behaving as if they were above the law, were challenging the courts, and had even disregarded the Prime Minister's appeal. He attacked the VHP for threatening to take out "asthi yatras '' and said that it was bound to ignite communal passions and "lead to the disintegration of the country.''

He also questioned the VHP's right to speak on behalf of the entire Hindu society .'' Who is the VHP, who has given this saffron outfit the certificate to speak on behalf of the Hindus,'' he asked and made it clear that the "hardline Hindutva agenda that the VHP was propagating was not part of the NDA agenda. "If this had been a part of the agenda we would never have joined the NDA,'' said Mr. Yadav.

Mr. Indora said that secular Hindus were being targeted by hardline Hindutva activists and referred to an incident in his constituency where certain priests occupied a piece of land and were holding "kirtans" and when requested by the neighbourhood to cut it short because of the ongoing school examinations, they refused.'' These people believe they are the only guardians of the Hindus'' he said. He had barely spoken for a couple of minutes when he was rudely interrupted by Mr. Adityanath and Mr. Katiyar. "You cannot attack the Sangh Parivar like this,'' he said and was joined by Mr. Adityanath, who accused the members of "betraying the NDA by talking like this".

Irked by the show of aggression, other allies, the TDP, the Trinamool Congress and the Samata Party also protested vehemently. "This is unacceptable and we should be allowed to speak,'' said S. Venugopal of the TDP. Speaking to the media outside the House, Raghunath Jha (Samata) demanded a ban on the proposed "asthi yatra" of the VHP. "This will lead to a communal conflagration, if they do not ban it we will be forced to withdraw support to the NDA,'' he said

The issue was initially raised by the former Prime Minister, Deve Gowda, who drew the attention of the House to the grave situation in the country. He appealed to the Prime MInister and the Home Minister to stop the VHP from going ahead with the "asthi yatra" as it would lead to more bloodshed.

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