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Undermining the rule of law

UNDER THE GUISE of seeking an "early hearing" of a petition pending before the Supreme Court related to the `status' of the so-called `undisputed' portions of the acquired land in Ayodhya, the Atal Behari Vajpayee regime is really attempting to espouse the cause of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad which has renewed its belligerent campaign for the restoration of such lands to the Ramjanmabhoomi Nyas by February 22 to enable the construction of a Ram temple. Predictably, the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board has reacted sharply to the Government's partisan move, even while not opposing the idea of an `early hearing' as such. In fact, the ruling BJP-led coalition's handling of a similar build-up by the VHP-RJN combine last year (as it pushed for `bhoomi puja' on the `undisputed land') was also in the same vein, even if marked by a shade of tentativeness and restraint dictated possibly by coalition compulsions or political expediency. This time around, thanks to the `success' of the undiluted majoritarian line (with all its vicious anti-Muslim dimensions) in the Gujarat Assembly polls and the BJP's resolve not to be apologetic about its ideology, the party leadership in Government has shed all inhibitions about seeking to help the VHP and the RJN in carrying out their subversive design of having a Ram temple built, regardless of whatever the court might have to say on the pending title suits related to the `disputed' site.

For a start, the Government has, while seeking an `early hearing' of the case by a larger Bench, made a plea for the vacation of the interim order the apex court had passed last year (in the context of the VHP's `bhoomi puja' plan) ruling out any kind of spiritual activity, symbolic or actual. This initiative, for all its seeming reasonableness, is nothing but an attempt to facilitate the handing over of the `undisputed' land for temple construction as demanded by the VHP. Take, for instance, the contention that the circumstances in which the Supreme Court passed the interim order last year and the specific prayers made by the petitioner then — related as they were to the VHP's `bhoomi puja' and the looming threat to public peace and order — do not exist now. While this may be true in a limited sense, the fact remains that the rationale behind the apex court's decision on the imperative of maintaining the status quo in the entire area acquired by the Government (the `undisputed' portions included) is rooted in substantive considerations that survive beyond the immediate circumstances cited by the Government in its application.

After all, as has been stressed in these columns earlier, the primary objective of the 1993 enactment, under which lands surrounding the disputed site were taken over by the Government, was to ensure that the final outcome of the adjudication process is not frustrated in any way. It stands to reason therefore that no part of the land so acquired should be used or allowed to be used in a manner prejudicial or detrimental to that purpose. And this ipso facto precludes any move or step by the Government that will have the effect of letting the VHP and the RJN have their way in securing access to any portion of the `undisputed' land for the simple reason that their gameplan is to commence temple construction now and present a fait accompli by the time the court comes up with its verdict on the title suits. As the authority in whom the acquired land is vested, the Government has a statutory responsibility to ensure that the aims and objectives of the 1993 Act are served fully and in the right spirit. But the Vajpayee regime has, by its latest moves on the judicial front, exposed itself to the charge not merely of grave dereliction of duty but, worse, of conniving with forces that have sought to defeat the very purpose of the enactment in a manner that smacks of utter contempt for the rule of law.

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