The Hindu : Antony stand leaves Cong. red in the face

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 06, 2003

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Antony stand leaves Cong. red in the face

By Javed M. Ansari

NEW DELHI MAY 5. The decision of the A.K. Antony-led Congress Government in Kerala to allow the Vishwa Hindu Parishad to conduct "trishul diksha" ceremonies in the State is fast becoming an embarrassment for the party. Mr. Antony's decision not to ban the trident distribution ceremony in Kochi raised several eyebrows both inside and outside the party. It also led to questions being asked about the lack of consistency in the party's stand on the issue.

The Congress media managers today had a difficult time trying to defend Mr. Antony's position.

Their embarrassment was made even more acute by the fact that the party spokesperson, Satyavrat Chaturvedi, had just finished lambasting the BJP for allowing the VHP leader, Praveen Togadia, to distribute tridents "right under the nose of the Central Government" in New Delhi.

Mr. Chaturvedi sought to defend Mr. Antony on the ground that "each Chief Minister" was free to assess the situation in their respective States and take appropriate action.

That, however, did little to hide the dichotomy between the "no-nonsense approach" of the Central leadership and some of the State Governments such as Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and the position adopted by the Kerala Chief Minister.

On Friday last, the Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dixit, had shot off a letter to the Lt. Governor, Vijay Kapoor, suggesting that he ban the VHP's trident distribution programme.

"The trident distribution ceremony poses a grave threat to social amity, and if law and order was under the Delhi Government's purview, I would have banned it," she said.

This is not the first occasion that Mr. Antony has taken a position that is different from the party's central leadership on the issue of Hindutva.

While the central leadership and most Congress State Governments favour a proactive approach towards communal forces, Mr. Antony appears to favour the soft approach.

Sometime ago, he had also objected to the party using the terms "saffron brigade" and "saffronisation" to describe the Sangh Parivar and its activities.

The Kerala leader's perception on the VHP's trident campaign and Hindutva seems to differ from that of the Congress high command.

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