The Hindu : Legislative option on Ayodhya should be explored: BJP

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jul 20, 2003

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Legislative option on Ayodhya should be explored: BJP

By Neena Vyas

RAIPUR JULY 19. The Bharatiya Janata Party today re-dedicated itself towards handing over Ram Janmabhoomi, the disputed land in Ayodhya, to Hindus for the construction of a Ram temple saying that while a negotiated settlement was the best way to settle the dispute, the other option of adopting legislation in Parliament "should be explored". But, the party also indicated that this would not be possible in the present arithmetic in Parliament.

In fact, releasing to the press later a separate resolution on Ayodhya — adopted unanimously by the national executive committee — the BJP general secretary, Pramod Mahajan, made it clear that "no proposal for taking any initiative to persuade the allies on this issue" was discussed. He was non-committal on the party taking any steps towards building a consensus on this or taking steps to start a dialogue for a negotiated settlement.

The party said there was a broad consensus within the ruling National Democratic Alliance that a solution through a judicial verdict would be an acceptable solution, but it did not clarify its own stand on this. In Palampur in 1989, when the party first adopted the Ram Janmabhoomi cause as its own, it had declared that "the nature of this controversy is such that it just cannot be sorted out by a court of law". Then, as today, it talked about a solution through a negotiated settlement or legislation.

In the resolution, the BJP cautiously added that "the legislative approach would be fruitful if our allies in the National Democratic Front as well as the parties in the Opposition, especially the Congress, extend their support to it". In short, it has thrown the ball in the court of its allies and the Opposition.

During a recent meeting between the RSS sarsanghchalak, K.S. Sudershan, the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, and the RSS office-bearer, Madan Das Devi, at the Prime Minister's residence, the BJP leaders had promised to consider the legislative option. After that a separate resolution on Ayodhya was entirely expected.

The resolution itself is being seen as a signal to its cadre that it remains committed to the cause of a Ram temple even as it tries to meet the criticism from other Sangh Parivar organisations such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad that the BJP had abandoned the Ram temple issue after riding to power on its back. Apparently, the draft resolution was badly worded and some members, Murli Manohar Joshi among them, objected to it, after which the resolution was re-drafted and adopted.

The one-page resolution pointed out that the National Agenda of Governance adopted by the coalition Government in 1998 and the common NDA manifesto of 1999 were silent on Ayodhya. "Nevertheless, there was a broad consensus on resolving this issue either through dialogue or a judicial verdict. On that basis the NDA Government supported sincere efforts by certain individuals to reach a negotiated settlement through dialogue," the resolution stated.

The party stated that it favoured a settlement of the issue through negotiations as the "best option" as it would "promote communal harmony and national integration" but made it plain that negotiations did not mean any give-and-take. Nor had the party discussed the Kashi-Mathura potential mandir-masjid disputes today, he added. "Where is the question of removing the makeshift Ram temple (from the disputed site)? The question does not arise," Mr. Mahajan said adding that "there is no need for give and take", during negotiations.

He also denied that the adoption of an Ayodhya resolution at this juncture was to make it a poll issue or to "test the waters" to see if it would catch the imagination of the people. By and large, party members see the exercise as part of the larger effort to mend relations with the VHP at a time when the VHP cadre can be more than just useful during elections.

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