A Selective Hardline

Enter rss chief Rajendra Singh (Rajju Bhaiyya). During a recent visit to Lucknow, he stated that the Muslims had to hand over the mosques at Ayodhya, Mathura and Kashi back to the Hindus if they wanted communal peace. "They've plundered 3,000 temples in the past, so they shouldn't have any qualms in giving us back these three," he announced. A few days later, at a bjp press briefing in Delhi, K.L. Sharma was showering praise on the "great work" done by the "truly patriotic rss". This, after months of stonewalling by bjp spokespersons on any rss-related query.

While many have made the usual criticism of the "bjp's hidden agenda", sources in the Sangh were clear that they felt "these issues could be safely raised" now that elections in the states such as Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, where the bjp's allies are very prickly about the "communal aspects" of the Sangh and bjp agenda, were over. "All I will say is that the focus does change from state to state," says a bjp functionary. It's claimed by leaders in UP that Rajju Bhaiyya's statement has "provided the hint the cadre needed that Hindutva is not in the dustbin."

Vajpayee, his aides let out, is "disappointed" at this development, which is neither here nor there. Of the allies, some are making quaint distinctions between the rss and the bjp while others stick to "only the nda matters", but there's perceptible unease among them. "Our fear is that the bjp second-rung leadership and the cow belt cadre does not understand the difference between the bjp and the nda," says a senior dmk leader. tdp general secretary C. Ramachandraiah claims "we have only a seat-sharing arrangement with the bjp, we have nothing to do beyond that with the bjp, its allies or the Sangh parivar". In Karnataka, the jd(u) is clear that "raising of contentious issues will mean an end to our alliance with the bjp". As the jd(u)'s Jeevraj Alva told Outlook, "These are issues on which there can be no compromise."