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Unconcealed aggression

THE VISHWA HINDU Parishad appears determined to sustain, despite the painful social and political costs, the pursuit of its Ram temple agenda. Added to this is a greater display of aggressiveness and defiance. Having choreographed the return of the BJP under Narendra Modi to power by using the Godhra carnage to set off a campaign of hate against the Muslims and create a deep communal polarisation, the VHP obviously now feels emboldened to push ahead with the temple construction "at any cost". Its leadership, which has been cavilling at the Prime Minister for having "retracted" from a "promise" on facilitating the inauguration of temple construction last year, has made known its intention, loud and clear, to start the work at a time appointed by the Sant Sammelan to be held next month and has virtually served notice on the Vajpayee Government to see that the "undisputed" portion of the land surrounding the disputed site and acquired by the Centre is handed over to the VHP-controlled Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas by then. While the demand itself is by no means new, a clever attempt to force the issue by getting a `bhoomi puja' performed on the so-called undisputed (acquired) land — a ruse with which the Vajpayee regime went along covertly — was frustrated this time last year, thanks to the Supreme Court's order firmly ruling out "any religious activity, either symbolic or actual". Now, in the context of the perceived success of the strident Hindutva strategy in the Gujarat Assembly elections, the VHP evidently sees itself as better placed to up the ante. On the one hand, its leadership speaks of going ahead with the temple construction "even if a hundred governments fall" and on the other wants a law to be passed by Parliament to enable the transfer of the "undisputed" land immediately, without waiting for the court decision on the pending title suit. Pravin Togadia's appeal to the Congress, the main Opposition in Parliament, to facilitate the enactment of such legislation is only a part of this game.

Although the timetable for the commencement of temple construction is to be set only in the third week of February by the sants' congregation, the mobilisation plans the VHP has outlined for the big event are ominous indeed, disturbingly reminiscent as they are of the traumatic run-up to the `bhoomi puja' (which finally turned out to be a `shila daan' ceremony) of March 15, 2002. For instance, in Gujarat — the State that is yet to recover from the horrendous consequences of last year's provocative temple campaign which in a way provided the context for the Godhra episode and the revengeful killings that followed it — it has planned to hold district-wise congregations and raise youth battalions (at least 100 strong in each district) armed with tridents (`trishul diksha'). Given the Sangh Parivar's hype following the `success' of its divisive campaign and the consequent sense of insecurity among the minority community in the State, one dreads to visualise what these brazenly provocative and patently unlawful `trishul diksha' mobilisation campaigns will lead to. Add to these the BJP central leadership's vigorous reiteration of its commitment to Hindutva ("we need not be apologetic about it") — an essentially majoritarian concept as propounded and evolved by successive Sangh ideologues and practised by their camp followers — and its unabashed declaration of its intention to replicate the `Gujarat experiment' elsewhere, the spectre becomes all the more haunting. Surely, the VHP's renewed campaign for going ahead with the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, come what may, is a frontal challenge to governmental authority, the Constitution and the rule of law, even as it holds a real threat to national unity and secular values. Considering that its moves seek in effect to defeat the very objective of the 1993 Act under which the land surrounding the disputed site was taken over by the Government, there can be no question of the Vajpayee regime yielding to its bullying tactics or letting it have its way in brazen violation of the law of the land.

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