The Hindu : Ayodhya issue

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 27, 2003

Opinion

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Ayodhya issue

Sir, — This refers to the report, `I was betrayed: Kalyan Singh' ( June 21 ). The integrity and character of the top BJP leaders are now in the open for everyone to see and assess with the Ayodhya episode unfolding a new story everyday. With their bet on Hindus and the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the BJP achieved power. The cause for which they became national heroes is being pushed to the background. Now Mr. Vajpayee wears a moderate hat, Mr. Advani is the biggest protagonist of the secular fabric of Indian society and so on. This is totally disgusting.

If our democracy fails and the nation gets subjugated again, the contribution of these people in this process shall be written with the blood and sweat of helpless citizens.

Chinmaya,
New Delhi

Sir, — The recent consternation created by the temple issue has condemned the spirit of secularism to a great extent. The blames and counter-blames, aided with the denial of onuses by the religious leaders, have messed up the situation.

The BJP is keen on using the temple card for the coming Assembly polls. The shocking fact is that the RSS and the VHP are propagating a distorted version of Hinduism. `Hinduism' is the construction of a hospital or a school or an institution which knows no caste distinction, at the disputed land. This is the need of the hour. Are religious sentiments greater than the hunger pangs which strike millions of Indians everyday?

Payal Pisal,
Bhopal

Sir, — In your Editorial `Abdicating responsibility?' ( June 24 ), you have remarked that a spiritual body (Kanchi Sankaracharya and/or the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board), which has it own place and power in its demarcated domain, should not appropriate to itself the authority to speak on behalf of and commit the entire community to any pact on the Ayodhya issue. But, I, for one, think that the Ayodhya dispute is actually not between the two communities.

A majority of the Hindus and Muslims (the silent majority) do worry about the fact that the issue has got the potential to throw their day-to-day routine out of gear on any given day. The dispute is between vested interests of both communities. So, what is wrong in the Kanchi Acharya using his good offices to find an amicable settlement to the imbroglio?

R. Venkatesan Iyengar,
Gulbarga, Karnataka

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